章 22: Calm Before the Storm
A.N.: I changed the part where Jory goes with Sansa and Arya to the North. Now, he stays with Eddard in King's Landing.
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298 AC, King's Landing…
It had been two days since the daughters of Lord Stark left King's Landing and sailed back to the North. There were several murmurs in the castle about the situation, with the prominent ones being Lord Stark planning to go back to the North and the betrothal between Sansa Stark and the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon, being broken.
Despite the rumors, the king did not act upon it and just went out for a hunt with a big entourage. The relations between the king and the Hand were still cold but everyone knew that the king would not allow the betrothal to be broken.
Rody and other guards were cooped up in the Tower of the Hand and its perimeter. They were training daily and handling mundane jobs given by the Hand. Today, Rody was tasked with giving back a book to the Grand Maester Pycelle.
Rody had to halt his lessons with Arya due to her returning back to the North. Although his lessons were numbered and he was only able to learn a few words, they were enough to increase his curiosity towards any written word.
The book he carried in his hands was also an interesting one as there were many illustrations in the book. Mainly, the depictions of the main lineages of the great houses of Westeros were shown in the book. While walking towards the Grand Maester's room, Rody opened the book and tried to match the depictions with the houses he had known.
However, what caught Rody's attention was not the book but the guards stationed around the castle. There were more Red Cloaks than the guards of Red Keep standing around. Still, Rody continued his way and reached the Maester's room.
Ser Jaime and a Red Cloak were standing guard before the door. They were lazily looking around and having small talk. Rody walked towards them and said. "Ser Jaime, you are a rare sight in the castle. I was not expecting to see you here."
Rody watched as Jaime's face twitched while turning his head. "Unfortunately, I see too many Northern barbarian these days…"
The smile on Rody's face fell down at the blatant insult. "Pity, as Lord Stark said, a bit of frankness of the cold North would be beneficial for the sniveling snakes of Red Keep."
Just as Ser Jaime was going to answer with a remark of his own, the door of the old maester opened and the queen of the Seven Kingdoms came out. She was holding a small vial in her hands and did not even deign to greet Rody after a slight glare.
When the queen passed beside him with her guards following, Rody felt a sharp scent of lemons invading his nostrils.
"Farewell, wildling." Ser Jaime left with a sneer on his face, not forgetting to give a snide remark.
Rody snorted and turned towards the Grand Maester's room. He was not going to take the words of a blond bastard to heart.
"What is it? Why did you disturb me?!" The old maester was straightening his belt as he came out of his room quickly. "Ohh, my lord, you are the one who defeated Ser Barristan. How can I help you?"
Rody did not have the mind to have any talk with the grumpy Grand Maester so he extended the book towards him and said, "Lord Stark wanted me to return this book. He sent his regards for helping him."
The Grand Measter's eyes grew as he heard the words uttered by Rody. He coughed into his hand and said, "Helping the Hand is a boon for any man. Convey my gratitude to him, my lord."
"I will do so." Rody nodded his head. "If there is nothing else, I will be returning back."
"Hmm," Grand Maester took the book and bid him farewell. However, just as Rody was going to return, Grand Maester called for him, "My lord, please wait."
Pycelle returned to his room under Rody's questioning gaze. He returned with a sealed letter in his hands. He gave it to Rody and said, "Please give this to Lord Stark. It is for him."
Rody took the letter and saw a trout engraved onto its seal. It was probably from Lord Stark's good father. However, the seal on the letter was a little bit crumbled like it was sealed now and had no time to cool off.
"The letter arrived a day before. My old body is weary and it slipped out of my mind. Please convey my apologies to Lord Stark." Still, this was an official letter and the Grand Maester forgetting to deliver it was not an excuse. "I am tired, age has taken its hold on me. If there isn't anything else, I will rest for a bit."
Rody grumbled a bit but there was nothing he could do other than to report it to Lord Stark. He bid farewell to the Grand Maester who returned to his room briefly and closed its door.
Rody continued down the corridor and returned to the Tower of the Hand. He saw Jory inside the Small Hall having small talk with other men. "Jory, are you lazing around?"
Jory turned his head with a raised eyebrow and seeing Rody, he shrugged. "I just returned from the Gold Cloak barracks. Dealing with that dour Janos Slynt is very tiring. This is the least I deserve."
"Lord Stark should deal with that man, it is the Red Cloaks who guard the city instead of Gold Cloaks. He is slacking on his job." Rody said.
"Lord Stark told me that he already has several people in mind to replace him. He is just waiting for the right moment, I guess." Jory said.
"Anyway, where is Lord Stark? I should give a letter to him." Rody said, showing the letter to him.
"He is in his solar," Jory said.
Rody nodded his head and climbed the stairs leading to Lord Stark's solar. As usual, Crag and two other guards were guarding the doors.
Rody greeted Crag and told him that he got a letter for Lord Stark. Crag knocked on the door and waited for a reply from Lord Stark. A few seconds later Lord Stark called them in.
Rody entered inside and Crag closed the door after him. Lord Stark was dealing with some paperwork so Rody sat on one of the chairs before the table and waited for Lord Stark.
It did not take long for Lord Stark to finish the paperwork and take a look at Rody and ask. "There was a problem with the book?"
"No, my lord. I delivered the book as you have said. However, Grand Maester gave me a letter to give you." Rody took out the letter and put it on the table. "The letter arrived a day before but, apparently, the maester forgot to deliver it."
Lord Stark rubbed the seal and murmured to himself, "The seal is not as cold as it should be."
Rody watched as he broke the seal and unfurled the letter. It took a few seconds for him to skim through it. By the time Lord Stark was done with the letter, he took a deep breath and gave it out.
"By now, everyone should have learned about what happened." Lord Stark said. "Lord Tully speaks about the trouble my wife brought to us. The king is out hunting and Lannisters might make the first move seeing the chance."
"While going to the Grand Maester's room, I saw more Red Cloaks than other guards. Their numbers have certainly increased." Rody said.
"Hmm, bring all the off-duty people. Now we need numbers more than ever." Lord Stark thoughtfully held his chin. "That is all, you can leave."
Rody bowed his head and left the room with tense steps. The coming days were going to be difficult as far as he had seen.
…
It has been 4 days since Lord Stark received the letter. On the second day, everything went for the worse. The number of Red Cloaks have increased each passing day. By now, there were four Red Cloaks for every one Northerner.
However, it was not only Lord Stark who was disturbed by this, as Lord Renly Baratheon was also one of the people who was opposing the growing influence of the Lannisters.
However, there was nothing they could do as the queen herself was a Lannister and she had every right to bring her people to the castle. Still, it was not approved by the king and that was a matter to be discussed when the king returned.
However, Lord Stark did not sit idle either as Rody witnessed Lord Renly leaving Lord Stark's solar each day. He did not know what they talked about but an uglier sight was merring Lord Renly's face each day.
On the fifth day, the balance changed as Stormlanders loyal to Lord Renly came to the capital under the pretense of renewing their fealty to the king. However, the strangest thing was that the nobles brought with them dozens of men-at-arms.
Many were aware of the ongoing power struggle between the Lannisters and the Starks. However, they treated it as nothing more than a verbal and political struggle. Now, things were getting ugly as men-at-arms belonging to both sides were swarming into the capital.
On the sixth day, Rody and Jory were called to Lord Stark's solar. Inside, Lord Stark and Lord Renly were having a heated talk but as soon as the door opened, their voices were silenced by themselves.
"Come, sit." Lord Stark spoke simply.
Rody and Jory greeted Lord Renly and took their seats. "Crag came to us and said you called for us, my lord?" Jory asked, taking the lead.
"Lord Renly and I discovered something dire for the kingdoms and we intend to reveal it." Lord Stark turned his head to Renly and looked back at the pair. "However, we need the cooperation of the Lannister to prevent unwanted things from happening.
"Dire like what?" Jory asked.
"You probably noticed from the tasks I have given you…" Lord Stark said.
"You mean sending me to the Master Tobho Mott's Shop and the whorehouses?" Jory asked blatantly.
"Aye, but the thing is, this secret could change the fate of the Seven Kingdoms. You see…" Lord Stark tried to continue his words but Lord Renly cut in.
"The queen cucked my brother, all of the royal children are bastards," he said suddenly.
Lord Stark palmed his face while Rody and Jory gaped at what they heard. The royal children were bastards… What madness was Lord Renly speaking about?
"Then who is the father of the children?" Rody asked with a frown.
"The queen's brother." Lord Stark said.
"The Imp?" Jory asked.
"It is the Kingslayer." Lord Stark shook his head. "The clansmen found the queen's room when mapping out the tunnels. Through a hole, they witnessed the queen and her brother in the act."
As Jory continued to ask his questions, Rody's mind wandered towards the past. The things he remembered were just like a puzzle. And now they were gathering together to form a painting.
"My lord!" Rody suddenly jumped out of his seat. "Do you remember what I have told you about my investigation of the Broken Tower?"
Lord Stark frowned at Rody's actions but did not berate him. Instead, he nodded his head in agreement.
"I told you that the only thing I found was the scent of lemons. I came upon the smell in the Grand Maester's room." Rody said.
"Grand Maester's room?" Lord Stark asked.
"Aye, the queen was also there. It was her smell. I swear it was the same one. Maybe they tried to kill him because Brandon saw them together!" Rody put forward a volatile barrel of wildfire.
"That makes our cause more convincing…" Lord Renly said while scratching his chin.
"We can't prove anything with only words." Lord Stark shook his head.
However, Lord Renly grinned, "Words are winds as you have said but if they have a story behind them, even a smallest rumor can change to become the truth."
"Nevertheless, the plan will stay as it is." Lord Stark said. "We will have a talk with Robert when he returns from the hunt. However, we need to make this as bloodless as possible. Lord Renly's men will be securing the royal children while you and Jory will be securing the queen. If we have them when Robert learns about this, there will be no bloodshed."
"Unfortunately, we don't know where the queen will be so we cannot use the tunnels to sneak into her room or other places on time." Lord Renly said. "I told the same things to my bannermen. Hopefully, there will be no mishap and this will end quickly."
"Jory, talk with the men but do not tell them about our purpose. They should be prepared for the coming struggle." Lord Stark said. "You can leave, I still have some things to talk about with Renly."
"Yes, my lord." Rody and Jory bowed their heads and left the room.
…
The news about the king's return was received on the evening of the 10th day. However, his return was marred with bad tidings as he was badly wounded. The king's party was attacked by a big group of bandits on the way back.
The bandits were well-armed as even one of the Kingsguards was killed by an arrow that was meant for the king. However, the king was not left unschated either as he was stabbed on his back by one of the bandits.
He was directly taken to Grand Measter for treatment by the Lord Commander Barristan Selmy. The word around the Red Keep was that the king was going to breathe his last on the morrow.
With this news, Lord Renly and Lord Stark's plans were dumped down the wall. The fate of the Seven Kingdoms suddenly took a bleak turn as the uncertainty gripped them both…
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