章 110: 34
Chapter 34: Part XXXIVNotes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Disclaimer: I own nothing, just borrowing for a while.
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"Of all the means which wisdom acquires to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is friendship."
Joffrey Augustus ("borrowed" from Epicurus)
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Maegor's Holdfast – The Red Keep - King's Landing – 299 AC
Gendry looked down into the dry moat that surrounded Maegor's Holdfast, the castle within a castle where the Royal Apartments were located. Instead of water the moat was filled with vicious looking iron spikes at the bottom and he could only assume a few lucky blacksmiths had earned a steady living for months forging them all.
Of course if they were unlucky Maegor I Targaryen would have executed them afterwards, along with all the builders that had finished constructing the Red Keep begun in his father's day. Gendry wasn't quite sure that the blacksmith's protestations that [I]they[/I] didn't know where any secret passages might be located would fall on deaf ears or not.
There was, after all, a good reason why the histories, both written and in song, recorded the man's name as 'Maegor the Cruel'.
The drawbridge was lowered, as it usually was unless an attack on the castle was expected, and servants scurried back and forth across it as Gendry made his way into the Holdfast. A member of the Kingsguard, Ser Preston Greenfield, stood watch at the far end of the drawbridge and looked bored out of his mind. It was certainly not the most glamourous of duty assignments for one of the greatest knights in Westeros but someone had to do it and Gendry assumed Ser Preston had drawn the short straw that day.
"Good day to you, Ser" Gendry greeted him. "I'm expected, invited even, I'm Gendry…"
The knight responded with a non-committal grunt before he could finish his name and waved him inside. Gendry could only hope that Ser Preston had been told to expect the king's bastard half-brother because if not security in the Red Keep wasn't as good as it should be.
At least he wasn't carrying a bag of swords this time unlike his first visit to the Red Keep, or his second brief visit when he had met a very busy King Joffrey in the Great Hall to let him choose which sword he wanted for himself whilst sat on a throne of other swords.
As Gendry entered the Holdfast under the raised portcullis, murder-holes above through which boiling oil could be poured on uninvited guests, Gendry could only be impressed by just how strong the walls at the base of the structure were. They were at least twelve feet thick to his estimation, which explained how they supported the weight of the immense building atop them, and probably indicated just how fearful Maegor was of being attacked.
If the man had put less effort into making enemies he could have probably saved an awful lot of stonemasons an awful lot of sweat Gendry reasoned.
According to the stories he'd heard from more travelled men the ruined castle at Harrenhal made the entire Red Keep look unimpressive, let alone Maegor's Holdfast, which could be one reason that the Riverlanders living under the Ironborn yoke who were forced to build it for them hated them so damn much.
Once inside Gendry realised he had absolutely no idea where to go from there and looked around for someone to ask. Before he could however a young woman that struck him as quite pretty approached him. "Gendry Waters?" she queried.
"Yes Milady" Gendry confirmed. Her fairly simple lightweight dress struck him as being more likely as being that of a servant but you could never be entirely sure. Some highborns preferred comfort to ornate clothes when they weren't trying to impress anyone.
The young woman smiled. "No need to call me that. I'm no Highborn Lady" she replied. 'I'm Bernadette, one of the King's handmaidens. He asked me to meet you and bring you to his apartments when you arrived" she explained. "The Holdfast is a bit of a maze, it's supposed to make it more defendable I'm told. Follow me please."
"How did you recognise me?" Gendry asked, following the handmaiden which gave him the opportunity to look her up and down from the rear aspect without causing possible offence. She had long hair that was collected up into a bunch somehow with a couple of braids hanging loose and she looked and smelled a lot better than most of the women to be found in the parts of town Gendry usually visited.
"King Joffrey told me you were young, dark of hair and looked like a blacksmith" Bernadette explained as they reached a spiral stone staircase and began to climb.
Gendry frowned. "How does a blacksmith look?" he asked out of curiosity. He was wearing his best clothes, freshly scrubbed by the always-busy washer-woman who plied her trade on the Street of Steel, and had made sure he was properly scrubbed himself before putting them on.
"I guessed broad shoulders and muscular arms" Bernadette explained.
"I could have been a lazy blacksmith" Gendry countered, grinning.
"In that case I suspect the king would have given a more detailed description. He's very precise in the way he explains things when appropriate" the handmaiden told him then stopped on the stairs and turned half-way back towards him. "Why did you think I was highborn?" she wanted to know.
"Well you're… clean" Gendry stumbled for an answer. "And you look nice" he added awkwardly.
The handmaiden chuckled. "You don't talk to girls very often do you?" she asked rhetorically.
Gendry shrugged. "Don't tend to see too many of them coming to the forge to buy armour" he replied. "And when I'm not swinging a hammer the girls in Flea Bottom aren't too interested in an apprentice without two stags to rub together."
"Not even when he's the king's half-brother?"
Gendry sighed. "Bastard half-brother" he corrected her. "And it's not like I tell anyone to try and impress them. No money or land in it and King Robert probably left a lot more bastards behind him than just me."
"His Grace King Joffrey does not seem as bothered by you being a bastard as others would be" Bernadette remarked as she turned again and continued on her way. "He's always very polite to the servants and the guards as well. Makes sure to learn our names and always asks after our health and wishes us a good day" she told him. "Most don't."
"The way I see it most Highborns are always trying to one-up each other, looking for an excuse to put another one down and they end up treating everyone that way" Gendry theorised. "The king don't have to play that game so he can be nice if he feels like it without worrying about looking weak" he said. "I never met him but folks always said King Robert was good company, would laugh and drink with most anyone."
Bernadette's memories of the times she served King Robert mostly involved around beating a hasty retreat when he grabbed her arse but she never thought of him as being particularly stuck-up, falling-down-drunk yes, but not stuck-up. "We're nearly there" she told him as they reached the top of the staircase emerging onto a well-lit corridor. "The King's Apartments are in this tower, the Queen's over there" she explained, pointing out of a window to the next tower that jutted from the opposite corner of the Holdfast.
"Long way down" Gendry observed, looking out.
"They say Queen Helaena Targaryen killed herself by jumping out her window into the moat" Bernadette recalled. "Nobody knows if it was the spikes in the moat or the fall that killed her."
"Probably a little of both" Gendry supposed. It was a hell of a drop, long enough that anyone making the jump might have time enough to reconsider half-way down when it was already a little late. "So have you always lived in King's Landing?" he asked, seeking to continue the conversation.
"No. Lannisport born and bred" Bernadette replied. "Queen Cersei liked to recruit the servants for the Royal Household from the Westerlands" she explained. "Took me a while to get used to the smell. I suppose it's different if you're from here?"
"I've never lived anywhere else but no" Gendry replied sadly. At least living in the Red Keep the sewage mostly ran away from where she lived, not downhill towards it.
"We're here" Bernadette told him reaching a heavy oak door and knocking upon it.
The door swung open revealing a kingsguard with one hand on the pommel of his sword and the other clutching a chicken leg with a large bite taken out of it. "The king insisted I have something to eat" Arys Oakheart awkwardly explained. "Ah, it's the apprentice blacksmith. Go on through. Can you fetch me a cloth to wipe the grease off my hands when you've a minute, girl?" he requested.
"Of course, Ser Arys. Best not wipe them on your cloak" Bernadette replied, beaming a smile at him. Not that he would be the one that had to clean it, so he might not worry about that, but Ser Barristan would surely object to the stain.
Gendry noticed the smile. Ser Arys was handsome, reputedly the best looking of the kingsguard, except for Ser Jaime Lannister perhaps who was older, and he expected the serving girls flirted with him a lot.
Good thing the young knight was sworn to celibacy really, Gendry thought with satisfaction as he entered the king's chambers, trying not to stare at the opulence of the place.
Initially king Joffrey was nowhere to be seen but he suddenly wandered in from another room head stuck in a book. "Ah Gendry, you're here" he said, looking up and snapping the book closed.
"Your Grace" Gendry greeted him with a bow.
"Thank you Bernadette, can you please fetch me the cloak I requested in a few minutes" Octavian addressed the maidservant.
"Of course, Your Grace" Bernadette replied, bowing herself rather more elegantly than Gendry had managed before hurrying away. First to fetch a cloth for Ser Arys since she had time.
"You summoned me, Your Grace" Gendry noted. "An hour past midday as requested."
"I invited you here Gendry, rather than summoned you, but I appreciate your timekeeping" Octavian replied, putting the book down on a nearby shelf.
Gendry looked and felt confused. "What's the difference?" he asked.
"Ignoring a king's invitation to meet him is very rude whereas ignoring a king's summons to present yourself before him is very dangerous" Octavian explained, smiling though the emphasis his tone put on 'dangerous' invoked a considerable sense of menace. "I thought it was high time for you to meet your cousin Shireen, she should be in the castle gardens later this afternoon, before then we can have some luncheon. There's food set up in the room next door, though please don't expect roast swan and a mountain of lemon cakes to be washed down by finest mead and Dornish Red, I promised myself to refrain from rich food too often."
"I'd say you could try swinging a hammer at an anvil a few hours a day instead but there's a few fat blacksmiths on the Street of Steel that argue that wouldn't work" Gendry joked. "I've started running in the mornings like you said to."
Octavian nodded his approval. "Just make sure to keep it up. You don't want to be summoned to the Red Keep to run up and down the highest tower all day because you're starting to look like father did when he was old and fat, not just when he was young and lean" he threatened semi-seriously. "Come on" he bade Gendry to follow him into the next room.
It might not have been 'rich' food by high-born standards but it looked expensive enough to Gendry when he saw what was waiting for them on a small table with a chair at either end. A couple of cooked chickens, one already missing a leg likely due to Ser Arys, some bread, the best kind along with butter for spreading upon it, and a selection of cheeses.
Gendry tried to ignore how much the silver plates must have been worth too.
"Help yourself, and be grateful Sandor Clegane is off running an errand or else the chicken would have already vanished" Octavian told the apprentice blacksmith as he sat down on one of the chairs and reached for the bread and butter.
"Well, this'll save me from tonight's Bowl of Brown" Gendry said to himself quietly as he opted to start with the chicken.
Octavian took a bite of the slice of bread he had buttered and chewed it thoroughly before swallowing. "Do you know a blacksmith they call Ironbelly?" he asked.
Gendry quickly gulped down the mouthful of chicken he was chewing. "I know him, he's good at the work. Not as good as some, better than most in town" he replied.
"I've asked him to help produce more copies of the short-swords you and your master produced for me, the Castle Forges can only turn them out so fast" Octavian told him. "I can't afford your prices" he joked.
"Master Mott isn't one for mass production, he's quality over quantity every time" Gendry noted.
"And he charges twice as much" Octavian responded wryly.
"And he charges twice as much" Gendry agreed. "Because he's twice as good" he felt the need to defend the man he was apprenticed to.
Octavian chuckled as he reached for a piece of cheese. "I'm not arguing, I carry one of his swords on my hip most days and it's not just because my brother etched my family sigil on the thing, it's because if I ever need a blade I want to be able to trust it."
"Not buying the best arms and armour you can afford is a poor investment because your life is always worth more than your coin" Gendry quoted Mott before taking another bite of chicken.
"Your Grace" Bernadette interrupted them, appearing holding what might have been a thick blanket folded up. "You wanted me to bring this."
Octavian smiled. "Excellent" he said, standing up and causing Gendry to practically leap to his feet as well. "I thought you should have something that belonged to father" he told Gendry. "At first I thought a pair of his boots, but you might not wear the same size shoe, then I thought a doublet but realised it would require so much taking in at the waist before it fitted it wouldn't really be father's anymore" he said. "One of his cloaks should be suitable though" he suggested, Bernadette holding one up.
Now Gendry could get a better look he saw it was finely made of densely woven wool and with an expensive lining that might have been silk. The clasp and chain at the collar looked to be silver. "I can't accept such a gift, Your Grace" he told the king earnestly.
"Nonsense, he left me the Seven Kingdoms and the Riverlands, he'd not begrudge you one of his cloaks" Octavian airily dismissed the response. "I would have offered you one of his rings, I kept a couple for myself, but Tommen should really get to choose which of those remaining that he might want as well beforehand" he said. "He's already got plenty of cloaks though, as do I."
That certainly rang true. "Do you think he'll like me? Prince Tommen I mean" Gendry asked.
"Probably more than he likes me, I was horrible to him when I was younger" Octavian replied. "Spoiled rotten and a nastier little shit you've never met than me a couple of years back" he said frankly. "I was, don't try and deny it" he told the maidservant who looked appalled at the king's description of his younger self. "I'm just glad I outgrew it. You meet plenty that never do and remain complete arseholes their whole lives."
If Sandor Clegane had been present Octavian suspected he would have been muttering about his brother at that point in the conversation.
"Can I try on the cloak?" Gendry requested, thinking it might be wise to change the subject as he took another look at it.
"You might want to finish your lunch and clean you hands before you touch it" Bernadette advised, sounding adamant about that for some reason.
"She's saying that because she's already cleaned it once, I didn't want to hand it over splattered with mud" Octavian explained causing the maidservant to blush with embarrassment.
"I'll try not to get it dirty" Gendry vowed.
"You won't need it for lunch, or the gardens, so I'll have Bernadette hand it to you later before you leave the Red Keep later" Octavian told him, sitting back down to continue his meal. "Could you bring us some small beer to wash this food down with please Bernadette? You can hang the cloak up somewhere until it's needed again."
"Right away. Your Grace" Bernadette responded with a bow before dashing off.
Octavian noted Gendry's eyes following her departure and that they weren't fixed on the cloak. "I'll only say this once. If you're not prepared to marry the girl concerned don't you dare fool around with the servants. Drinking and feasting to excess weren't the only habits of our father I disapprove of" he said sternly. "I mean to set a good example to the people I rule and I won't have a brother of mine, bastard or not, set a bad one."
Gendry's eyes widened. "I wouldn't" he exclaimed.
"Just so we're clear" Octavian told him flatly before helping himself to a chicken leg.
Notes:
Note from the Author:
Maegor's Holdfast is the castle within a castle in the Red Keep where the royal apartments are located. They are named for the man that had it constructed, the aptly named Maegor the Cruel. As a man that works for a living in a physical job Gendry has some appreciation of just how much work is involved in building something like that. Harrenhal castle makes Maegor's Holdfast (and the entire Red Keep) look rather less imposing (or it did before dragons visited).
Maidservant Bernadette is not an original character, in fact she's seen (generally in the background) in Seasons 2,3,4,6 & 7 of Game of Thrones. Loyal to House Lannister the question here might be exactly who in House Lannister she is most loyal to.
I can't see too many of King Robert's old clothes fitting Gendry (maybe at the shoulders) but one of his cloaks should.
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (AKA Augustus Caesar) was a great proponent of bringing a sense of morality back to Rome. Welcome to the dawn of the Westerosi version of that campaign.
Gendry gets to meet his cousin Shireen (and others) in the next chapter.
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