บท 26: Chapter 26
- Meereen - Sometime Later -
Aegon was currently sitting in what was considered to be the "throne room" within the great pyramid of Meereen where he would listen to the people talk to him about their problems. The young, the old, rich, and poor all came to him with their problems in the hope of him fixing it in some way. Aegon had no problem with that since he would need the practice once Westeros was taken.
For the poor, it was no problem since they just wanted a means of living past the next day in order to get by. A simple means to make some coin to pay for food and housing, which Aegon could provide once proper layout of the city was brought to his attention.
It was the wealthy who provided him with headaches. They weren't Wise Masters per se, but they certainly profited from their activities or were even related to some of them by blood or marriage. A group of them had petitioned at one point for Aegon to remove the Wise Masters, who were caught alive following the taking of the city, and later crucified alive to be taken down. The Prince had refused them outright, stating that if they can let all those poor slaves consisting of men, women, and even children be crucified alive, they shouldn't have a problem with their replacements. How if they could allow the bodies of those slaves to stay rotting in the hot Sun, this shouldn't be a problem for them either for their family and friends taking their place. Of course, these wealthy men protested, saying it was unfair that people of such wealth and power from such powerful bloodlines should be treated in such a way.
Some even went so far as to call him an invader, a destroyer of traditions, and calling his Mother a whore among other choice words.
Aegon's response? Killing half of them Force Lightning while the others jumped back in shock while their fellow protesters were electrocuted until only charred bones remained.
It had clearly upset the wealthy, but made the poor, who made up the vast majority of the city, pleased to know their liberator did care for them. The fact the Wise Masters who had survived into the morning had been crucified had proven it. The denial to have any of the Wise Masters taken down further enforced it, and the attack Aegon unleashed quieted any doubts they might have had.
It also didn't hurt the lowborn's opinion of Aegon when those with wealth, who had come to protest his change in various policies regarding slaves had said wealth removed. Seized and redistributed to further help and improve Meereen in all its now slave free glory.
And by the Gods, it was a lot of wealth. These wealthy or rather formerly wealthy people had so much wealth in their vaults that Aegon suspected they didn't know what to do with it. Just store it and spend what they wanted, when they wanted, and how they wanted to no real understanding of it all. Half the wealth of one wealthy family could feed nearly a quarter of all the poor in the city for Moons on end.
Which he did with just that one family. Aegon had taken a vast amount of wealth already from the Wise Masters killed when taking the city. Liquidating their assets had added a lot of coin to his own wealth, which went to the reorganizing, restructuring, and overall improvement of Meereen. Now this surplus from these fools who protested his changes only added to it and Aegon planned to make good use of such wealth in the end.
And it was coming along nicely. Many of the former slaves were looking for work and got it based on skills they may have had as slaves. The only difference was they were paid well for their services and given proper means of resting when tired. No fear of the whip or abuse from the one managing their progress.
Surprisingly, there were some former slaves who were not mistreated, though they were rare, and wished to return to the service of their former owner. When asked why, these former slaves explained how they were caretakers and teachers to the children of their former owners. How they loved to care for the children and the children themselves loved to be around them.
So Aegon allowed it to happen, provided the former owner paid the former slave wages with well written and understood contract that both sides must sign with his seal on it.
Aegon also opened up the Fighting Pits the city was well known to use in the past, but unlike before where (mostly) slaves fought in them for the amusement of the wealthy and the Wise Masters, he had them opened to all competitors. And it wasn't mandatory for that someone had to enter or even die since good fighters were hard to come by. Death was allowed, but Aegon made it known that should he command it, they would stop from delivering the final blow. After all, if the combatants put up a good fight, it would be best for everyone if they lived to fight another day.
In the end, Aegon had planned to remove most of the barbaric traditions of Essos while altering a few of the lesser ones to ensure all were happy with the transition.
They just had to remove the last remaining opposition slowly trying to gain momentum within the Free Cities they liberated.
"The Sons of the Harpy?" asked Daenerys with Ser Jorah nodding.
"Aye my Princess. They claim you and your nephew's actions are not one of liberators, but conquerors. Invaders and destroyers of their most ancient traditions. They claim it is their right to enslave others and force them into submission. They seek to undo all that you and Aegon have done. Even now, I hear rumors of their plans to take back Yunkai before they set their sights on Meereen. They hired several Sell Swords companies and infamous individuals throughout Essos to assist them in this endeavor," replied Ser Jorah with Jon scowling.
"It has to be those wealthy families who are related to the Wise Masters. They can't stand the changes you made, even if they make the Free Cities a better place for all," remarked Jon in disgust.
"This was to be expected Jon. Not everyone embraces change. Even when it is meant to help improve the life of everyone. Clearly, these Sons of the Harpy need to be put down, but in a way where they can never rise again. Ser Jorah, head to Yunkai with a substantial force to provide additional support. Find out who is empowering the Sons of the Harpy in the city. It is not the populace we liberated because they welcomed us into their ranks so its clearly a slow number of people who are traveling into the city. Ask the people for your help. Let them know we want to protect their newly obtained freedom, but also need their help to do it. These former slaves will hear things, know things, and help you with your investigation if it means keeping their freedom," commanded Aegon with Ser Jorah nodding since he was always good at finding out things when called upon.
"And a little bit of coin for those more hesitant to assist us," added Ser Jorah with Aegon nodding.
"That too. Take what funds you need. If more are required, you can coordinate with Lord Connington on the issue when the time comes," ordered Aegon with Ser Jorah nodding and left the room.
"The man has proven to be surprisingly loyal despite how he came into our service," said Daenerys while Aegon looked at her through his mask.
"Ser Jorah wants to come home. I understand that. He shamed his House, his home, and everyone in the North with his actions. He seeks redemption. To right his wrongs. The Usurper would have given him the pardon, but the actions the false King following taken against us following it would have haunted our loyal friend," said Aegon with Daenerys nodding since she could imagine what would have happened had Ser Jorah stayed loyal to the Usurper.
More assassination attempts. A risk to her life. To Missandei. To Lord Connington. To the three dragons they sired. Ser Jorah made the right choice in turning his cloak. While some would question his honor in the fact he did it once already, Daenerys knew the man would not do it a second time. He had seen Aegon act responsibly. With honor. He had seen that Aegon did not butcher innocent lives when taking a city. That Aegon didn't do what had to be done because of any form of madness like her own Father possessed. The man from Bear Island saw a future King who ruled as a King should and not the way the Stag did or the Mad King before him.
Someone worthy of the Iron Throne.
"Once we have secured Meereen and ensure things don't change back, we will be making our move on Westeros," said Jon with Aegon nodding since that was the next stage of the plan.
"And the dragons will rise once more like the Sun over Westeros," commented Daenerys with Aegon nodding again.
"And all who wronged us will cower under our shadow before dying under the fire we unleash on them," concluded Aegon with the image of the Falcon, Fish, and Lion being those brought to that point.
-King's Landing - Lord Baelish -
Lord Baelish was scheming as he usually did. Thinking up plans within plans where the outcome was in his favor no matter the outcome. He had schemed, plotted, planned, and other things to ensure his position was elevated beyond all others. Beyond High Lords, Wardens, Small Council members, and even beyond the Hand of the King himself. The once poor boy from the Fingers of the Vale had envisioned himself as King of the Seven Kingdoms. All those High Lords who once mocked, scorned, spit, and looked down on him were all swearing fealty to their new King.
King Petyr of House Baelish, the first of his name. Ruler of all the Seven Kingdoms. The Protector of the Realms. Dethroner of Dire Wolves, Lions, Flowers, Dragons, and other stupid sigils from so called High Lords he cared not to know. The man who took the wife of the stupidly honorable Lord Stark for his own and had several children with her to one day succeed him like they were always meant to have in life.
Of course, to make such a vision true, Petyr had to make it happen through his plans to rise above his station. So far, things had been going according to plan. His own actions in taking coin from the Crown to put in his own secret pockets for when the time came to bring it out of the red was coming along. The various Houses were filled with unrest and tension slowly growing with the desire to obtain more power. Him knowing everyone's dirty little secrets and getting their support in exchange for his silence. It was all coming together just like he had hoped it would and nothing was standing in his way.
At least until the fucking dragons made themselves known to the King and the King's old Hand.
Since then, Petyr had been trying to work around the issue. Hiding his actions further to ensure the King was never made aware of things if he ever asked. Fortunately, the issue with the Targaryens filled the man's mind every single moment of every single day. But it was not enough, as Varys provided them with information on the enemies progress, and of course Baelish himself relied on his own network to fill in the gaps the Spider may have conveniently chose to ignore.
With the way things were going, the Stag would never be able to best the dragons in any war. He was too bloated, fat, weak, and drunk most of the time. His attempts to get back in shape while admirable to a certain extent, were ultimately futile. The fat Stag would lose, those who followed him were going to fall, if not burn with him, and Lord Baelish was not about to be part of the losing side.
So he would need to accelerate his own plans for Westeros. Purge the old guard to make way for the new with him leading it just in time to deal with the dragons. From what he believed about the Targaryens currently in power over in Essos, it would be years before they were ready. Plenty of time to shift the landscape needed to make it impossible for the Targaryens to return to Westeros.
And the best way to do this, was to start a war that would cripple two major Houses so they would be weak enough to be influenced by his hands. But in order to do that, he needed to kill someone key to the two Houses his mind intended to cast down along with those who supported them. One House for the massive amount of wealth, the other one for more personal reasons dating back to the time Brandon Stark nearly killed him.
And the key to it all? Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King.
The man was already suspicious of Robert's "supposed" children not being his children considering how they had more Lannister traits over Baratheon. Of course, Petyr knew the actual truth long before Jon suspected it. Jamie Lannister was the Father of the three children Cersei brought screaming into the world and knew if the truth got out, it would put him in deep shit with everyone around them. Tywin would kill all three children if Robert didn't do it first with neither one allowing such shame to exist.
Something to have in his back pocket in the future.
But now, he needed to remove the Falcon. With him gone, Robert would have the perfect excuse to go see Lord Stark in the North and make him new Hand of the King. Once that happened, Petyr would leave little crumbs for a trail so the man could follow them in his investigating of Lord Arryn's murder. For that was what Petyr would help him conclude was the fate of his Foster Father and seek to bring justice to the criminal responsible for it.
As if Petyr would allow someone like Lord Stark to bring him to justice. Ha! Laughable in every sense of the word.
After creating the trail for Lord Stark to follow, Baelish merely had to make sure it led to the Lannisters. Words would be spoken, actions taken on both sides, Petyr in the middle to orchestrate it all until finally...WAR! Banners called, oaths of loyalty being reminded, and people coming to him for aid on both fronts.
Which Petyr would gladly provide...for a significant price. Favors and coin go a long way when you want things done. Coin from the Lannisters. Favors from the Starks. Especially from his beloved Cat. She would want the Lannisters dead by the time he brought it all to its peak. Want them dead for the death of her husband and children, which he would help the Lannisters (discreetly) accomplish of course.
And out of gratitude, Cat would marry him, becoming his Queen and giving Petyr all the children he always wanted to have with her.
'I think its time I speak discreetly to Lysa. After all, I am the Mother of our child she has trick the old Falcon into believing was his own. Shame the child is so sickly and weak. If I am lucky, the child will die in a few years and Lysa with him out of depression,' thought Petyr since he never wanted a child with Lysa, but the woman was insistent since the idea of having Jon Arryn's disgusted her.
She also had a crazed look in her eyes. The woman knew a few of his secrets and was not afraid to be vocal about them if it put Petyr in a "good light" as Lysa put it. She believed he could do no wrong. That everything he did was a blessing from the Seven and anyone who challenged him was his enemy. Her own family included. Lysa had no tact when it came to keeping her mouth shut on issues related to him and would eventually be a loose end.
One that Petyr would have to remove one way or another should Lysa's mindset became more unstable.
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