[Chapter Size: 3200 Words.]
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Thrid Person POV
Essos, 296 AC.
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Jon finally returned to his main ship as soon as he reconnected with the fleet returning from Braavos.
As soon as he arrived, he approached his men. "Well, Captain, get all the ships ready and head south immediately, it's time to go to Pentos," Jon ordered as the ships began to move and the Artican sailors raised the sails and scurried across the ships to keep up with the entire fleet, or at least nearly all, after all, 50 ships were breaking off from the fleet, heading north carrying all the books, animals, metals, and people they had hired from Braavos, along with the coin minister, who didn't need to continue participating in the journey south and the rest of Essos.
Then, 450 ships continued heading south. Jon looked at this and nodded as he saw Arya approaching him with a stare.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Well, Wind is a bit sad, since she couldn't go to Braavos," Arya said, looking at the forest daughter who had left the ship just before they entered the city of Braavos, with Jon forbidding her from entering Braavos with the others.
Jon sighed and approached the slightly hurt forest daughter. "Wind," he murmured, as the girl looked at him.
"Hello... Jon..." she murmured.
"Wind, I know you wanted to go with us, but it's dangerous for someone like you. After all, children of the forest haven't been seen for thousands of years below the wall, and no one outside of Artica even thinks you exist. I just want you to not be in danger on our journey, I promise we will venture more later, understood?" Jon said. Wind nodded in the end.
Satisfied with that, Jon then returned to the deck while Arya practiced some new moves with Darksister, as Jon noticed. "That guy from Braavos, did he teach you anything?" he asked curiously.
Arya nodded excitedly. "Yes! He said I can fight even faster. As fast as a cat!" she said with a mischievous smile.
"Well, let's see if that's really true. I'll see later," Jon said before entering the ship and passing the royal guards before entering his cabin.
Closing the door, he found his wife adjusting her dress, looking surprised. "You're here?" she said.
"The journey is long, so I decided to spend some time in the room," he approached her from behind, touching her body lightly, running his hands over Ygritte's curves.
The woman with intense red hair closed her eyes at Jon's touch and felt a shiver as he began to take off her dress, leaving her naked in front of him with just a quick touch.
Jon was still touching her when she interrupted him, removing his hands from her body and pushing him away. "I don't like it when you touch me with clothes. I prefer you like this," she said as she removed her casual clothes.
Ygritte smiled as she touched his bare chest, and Jon pulled her to him by her waist to feel the warmth of her body, as he kissed her on the lips and moved to her neck, with his wife moaning with pleasure. It wasn't long before Jon put her on the bed, and took her as his husband.
Meanwhile, the ship continued heading south, and a week had passed since they started the journey rushing to the coast of Braavos while trading ships and pirates quickly raced as they saw hundreds of flags on the horizon.
During this time, the news of the movement of 500 Artican ships had already been spread throughout all the coastal cities of the region while ravens passed the information to farther lands.
The situation was much more shocking than before, after all, the Articans already had all the fame acquired with their strength at sea, now instead of 150 ships, having 500 ships navigating the sea made everyone quite cautious about this.
Since Ned received a raven, he had been reading about the conversation that Manderly had with Jon in Braavos and he immediately responded asking if he could visit him to talk in person.
"Jon..." Ned couldn't stop thinking about the last time he saw his nephew, who now knew of his true parentage and wanted to talk about what they couldn't last time... after all, Jon hadn't given him a chance and that thing that appeared in the middle of Winterfell interrupted any chance of Ned really talking to Jon.
While Winterfell and other castles were already becoming aware of the Articans, King's Landing was no different as the news left everyone in the court surprised and cautious, after all, they couldn't overlook the situation becoming a bit more complicated than it seemed, what they thought was dealing with 150 ships, had become three times more, and with the soldiers of Westeros beginning to concentrate on the Wall, a war could even break out between the two nations.
A council of the king quickly convened, while Robert did not participate due to being so hungover that no one had tried to interfere, which had gotten much worse after he had returned from his defeat at sea and being beaten by a brat.
In the council room, all the others were present as they discussed putting all the coastal villages and cities on high alert. Even though all the nobles were already gathering all the men they could to protect their lands against this group that most of Westeros now considered an enemy.
"Five hundred ships? They have five hundred ships?" Jon Arryn raised his voice asking twice, looking at Varys cautiously.
"Exactly. They have almost three times the amount of the 200 ships that had left their lands over a year ago," Varys responded cautiously.
The atmosphere quickly turned somber with this information. Everyone there had their own thoughts, whether fear, anger, envy, or even regret, Baelish remained silent until now in his chair.
The scar on his face was a new aspect of his appearance, turning him from a man with a cynical face and a manipulator into a man consumed by hatred, hatred for his life taking such a turn, while he might have escaped death, at the same time, he was a joke at the court, people mocked and laughed at him, calling him some kind of monster, which made him hate everyone.
First Brandon Stark had marked him in a duel, but now it was much worse, after all, he couldn't hide this scar with clothes, he hated Jon Artica with all his might at this moment, he began writing all kinds of letters to Catelyn about how dangerous Jon Artica is and his ambition to destroy the Stark family in the future trying to sow discord, which Ned was beginning to hear from his wife, returning to his bouts of hatred for Jon that had not been there for many years.
Baelish knew very well that he could manipulate Catelyn, still using her fear to try to undermine her head how bad Jon was and even beginning to invent that he was even planning to take the north for himself.
It wasn't just Baelish who was cautious with the Articans, after all now with Jon being again the subject of the council, even more with his sighting, everyone had different expressions from those they had once used to discuss the Articans, after all now Jon was recognized how dangerous he was, after his numerous incursions.
Cersei was another who had traumas from Jon like Baelish, even after Jon stopped the attacks and the death of any birds flying through the red fortress. She never stopped being vigilant, always looking for any sign of danger. Her life was not the same with the fear that she had to face murderous birds constantly even more when Baelish looked like monsters, Cersei's biggest fear was having a face as horrible as his.
But Cersei had not forgotten the idea of killing Jon, wanting to end him once and for all to be safe, however, seeing that now they would have to face five hundred ships full of Artican men, made her even more disheartened.
"How is this possible? How can they build so many ships beyond the Wall?" Pycelle asked with a skeptical and disheartened tone.
"Believe it or not, there are thousands of witnesses who saw a fleet in front of the titan at the entrance of Braavos," Varys replied calmly.
"What can we do to stop him?" Cersei asked, fear in her voice.
"I don't know, but the men you sent north, who are gathering at the Wall now, will serve as nothing more than cannon fodder," Varys responded.
"Perhaps a treaty is the only solution. We cannot face them at sea and a war beyond the Wall is madness... Perhaps a marriage is the best choice," Jon Arryn said, even though he did not like Jon after what he had caused, this would be the best scenario for this situation, since Tywin had suggested such a thing.
"It's not a bad deal..." Renly murmured. "If you cannot defeat an enemy, join them." He spoke despite seeming to have hidden motives in his tone.
"I've already said I won't let my daughter marry that savage!" Cersei immediately exclaimed, not wanting something like that to happen. "Why do we have to worry about all these ships? We can eliminate the king directly, and everyone will fall, we should hire a Faceless Man!" she concluded.
"Do you believe we can afford a Faceless Man for him now...?" Stannis commented with a severe tone as always, bearing some marks from the fight at sea.
"That may be true, but we can go to Braavos to negotiate with the House of Black and White..." Baelish spoke now, wanting to find an opportunity for revenge.
"I imagine that would not be a wise choice, not when we already have a plan to try to appease the conflict between the realms..." Barristan said, standing like a statue, still dreaming every day of Jon's battle and his face.
"Still, we can see the price and I'm sure Mr. Baelish will be excited to go personally to see the price, as a good negotiator at the Iron Bank," Varys spoke, looking at Baelish and his scar.
Baelish bristled with anger seeing that Varys was mocking him and his mark on the face, but sighed trying to control himself. "That can be done," Baelish spoke at last, since he was indeed interested in seeing the price for the head of the man who had risen to the highest level of people he hated, even surpassing Brandon. "I will visit Braavos in the coming days," he affirmed.
"Anyway," Jon interrupted. "He stopped in Braavos, and he's heading south, but he's not coming to our waters, right?" he asked.
"The Articans are going to negotiate with the major cities on the coast of Essos. Braavos was just the first and from what I understand, they made a large purchase and sold many things, creating commercial contracts beyond the products they were selling to Dorne and the Reach," Varys responded. "Like wood and food," he said.
"Food? They intend to sell food?" Stannis raised an eyebrow at this a bit surprised, but still keeping his face neutral.
"I don't know the details, after all my little birds could hardly enter the Iron Bank, but it seems it was a quite large contract. Much larger than they made with Dorne and the Reach, and it seems that the food for Braavos will be so large and with much more variety of things than the Seven Kingdoms produce and Essos, that Braavos might even resell to other locations for the price that the Articans will be providing," Varys continued.
"This could be bad. Lord Tully and even the people of the Reach might not like this at all, knowing that there is a new food supplier on the seas," Jon Arryn murmured.
"Yes... Lord Hand..." Baelish interfered this time. "Perhaps the Articans could be more dangerous than we imagined..." He had to comment. He might be a greedy manipulator, but he understands a bit of economics. "The Articans could simply dominate the economy of Essos and enrich themselves by selling their products, even leading to a small economic crisis in Westeros. After all, many will lose trade with Essos." Baelish saw a good opportunity to increase the discord of the council against the Articans.
"Even if a marriage proposal is made, why would they accept, when they can simply dominate us in other ways...? And if we do nothing, they might destroy the Seven Kingdoms," Baelish commented as everyone frowned, knowing he was exaggerating, and the smart ones there, who recognized this, said nothing against it, after all, they also had an interest in ending this threat from the north.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the sea, at Magister Illyrio Mopatis' mansion, the situation was not very positive either. The news of 500 ships emerging in the north had left Illyrio quite worried, and now, with the Articans bringing 450 ships this way, it was a bit desperate for the man.
After all, he could not refuse and knew that his fellow Magisters would not turn down the contracts the Articans were offering, and even though he tried to say that they could destroy the city, the negotiations in Braavos had left them confident with the successful contracts, and no one wanted to be left behind with this new trade trend.
Magister Illyrio wanted to avoid this contact because he did not want the Articans to have contact with the Targaryens. His friend Varys had suggested that he do everything to prevent this contact. He even wanted to suggest that Viserys send his sister to the desert to marry some Khal, as Varys and he wanted to take the Targaryens out of the race for the Iron Throne, as they were planning another player to do that.
Regardless, he could do nothing and just sighed before going to the dining table to meet his guests, or rather, his proteges.
Viserys beamed a big smile upon seeing him, seeming very excited about the news, while Daenerys, more cautious, ate her plate of food, glancing occasionally at her brother.
"Come my friend, Illyrio. The food is delicious!" Viserys exclaimed as he seemed to own the place, as he had acted all these years he was here.
As Illyrio approached the table, Viserys looked at his sister. "They are coming, Dany. They are finally arriving. Those savages will have the privilege of following my orders, a true dragon," Viserys boasted, while Dany continued to look at him in silence.
"Yes," was all she commented, cautiously.
"Be more excited, Dany. After all, you will help your brother while I will be handed over to them. I don't care what the king of the savages will do with you, even if they make you a cannibal like them or even if you serve as a wild whore, your sacrifice will not be in vain once I touch the Iron Throne again," Viserys spoke, oblivious to the atrocities he was saying to his own blood, while Daenerys shuddered at these comments.
Illyrio remained silent in a corner. While Viserys did not seem to be finished. "Perhaps sister... if there's anything left of you after going through all those savages... I might even rescue you, but until then, you'll have to endure," he spoke with a malicious tone.
Daenerys was almost crying at these comments, she had heard things about the Articans defeating King Robert and how they killed the men who fought against her family, but also her brother always said that they were cannibal savages from the north who kidnapped women to rape them.
Hearing that her brother was going to send her to that group left her trembling with fear. She feared her fate, feared the Articans, and especially feared their king, who, according to her brother, was a Stark bastard who had become a king beyond the Wall. He would constantly speak of the atrocities committed and the crimes that Jon Artica had committed, even with wild women.
It seemed that Viserys took a strange pleasure in seeing his sister scared, and that's why he liked to talk about the Articans, saying they would be just a people who would serve his purposes. Perhaps, in the end, he would even put an end to them if he did not like these people once he took the throne.
Illyrio listened to all this and was restless. He couldn't stop scratching his chin, thinking that perhaps it could even be a good thing for Viserys to act this way. Knowing that by defaming the Articans, they might be killed by these people, who had proven to have a short fuse in Oldtown.
This would be better than his total plan of trying to end the lineage through a marriage with savages. But the problem was that besides splashing back on him, the Artican king might even take an interest in the Targaryen girl.
If Jon Artica took an interest in the girl, that would be a problem, since their children might have some right to the throne. And it would be harder to place his player that he and Varys had been preparing for years to take the throne.
"Viserys, could you speak with me at the end of the dinner?" Illyrio accompanied Viserys to his dining solar.
"Viserys, I heard something serious. Perhaps the Articans are not as friendly to you as you imagine," Illyrio began, trying to change the mind of this man trying to seek an alliance against the men of the north.
"What is this story, Illyrio? I will offer them something they cannot refuse. Their king will have the right to sleep with a Targaryen, something no one could dream of, not even that Stark bastard. Being able to share his bad blood with the true lineage of the dragons." Viserys scoffed while Illyrio looked at him thinking he did not have a good grasp of reality and this could kill him in a very cruel way.
"But I have already spoken with Khal Drogo... you cannot refuse him after making the proposal..." Illyrio tried to argue, after all, he had already advanced the marriage between the Khal in the Dothraki desert to ensure they would not get involved with the Articans.
"I prefer the savage from the north to the savage from the desert, at least those from the north are not afraid of the sea and have hundreds of ships and even defeated that damn usurper!" Viserys exclaimed angrily and Illyrio tried to stay calm.
"Think about what I'm saying, the Articans could simply kill you, as you've seen, they have no respect for any other king..." Illyrio spoke sighing, seeing that he could not argue much with Viserys in his fits of rage like now.
"I consider you a friend and an ally, Illyrio, but I don't like hearing that someone is going to kill me, I am your king, remember that!" Viserys growled at Illyrio as he turned his back and left, his mood destroyed by Illyrio's words, while he would look for his sister to beat her up a bit, as he always did when he was frustrated, meanwhile, an owl outside the window listened to every conversation happening in this mansion.
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