-Chapter 168-
"Aegon!!!" screamed Arianne, carrying Visenya, while Tyene carried Aemon. Both were accompanied by Sandor and an escort of about thirty Dragon Guards and five maids.
I kissed Arianne's forehead and then said to Sandor, "Do you have..."
I didn't even have time to finish my sentence before five Dragon Guards from five different directions fired crossbow bolts at us.
Surprised, I reacted slowly but quickly enough to stop the arrows in the air and send them back to their owners.
I hit one in the eye, two in the neck, and the remaining two were protected by their armor.
I coughed as a powder entered my nostrils, and my eyes widened in shock because Tyene, who was less than a meter away from me, had blown something on me, directly nullifying my magical abilities.
I could still feel the power within me, but my connection to it was scrambled.
I couldn't dwell on it because Arianne's five maids pulled blowguns from their sleeves and aimed at me.
I was about to dodge, but Arianne was between us. I could move her away quickly by slightly injuring her, but I could also kill my daughter, who was still a fragile baby.
'FUCKING HELL,' I screamed internally, furious, as I stood in front of her to intercept the sharp darts that lodged in my arm.
In perfect synchronization, seven spears instantly targeted me.
'They're slow' I thought, perfectly seeing their trajectories.
I dodged the first one before slicing the second. I kicked the third, breaking it as well. As I was about to grab the fourth spear, it slightly cut my chest.
I frowned but didn't worry about it. I picked up the tip of the spear I had previously cut and threw it like a javelin at a guard trying to pierce Arianne's back.
I did the same with the one I had broken, and it landed in the eye of the first attacker, who no longer had a spear and had drawn his sword.
Sandor kicked one of the seven assailants, who fell, and before he could roll on the ground, Sandor pierced his jugular.
'I'm not functioning as usual; something's wrong,' I thought as I stood in front of Arianne again, taking the blowgun darts meant for her.
I picked up the dead guard's sword and signaled Sandor to take care of Arianne's safety, then I started a massacre. I deflected an assassin's spear and then beheaded him before throwing my sword at one of the assassins focused on Arianne, whom Sandor was blocking.
'Fortunately, his armor is of good quality,' I thought, because if it weren't, he would have died several times over.
Sandor took advantage of my assistance to decapitate another, and I did the same with Illumination, slicing through the wood of the spear and half of the torso, passing through the right shoulder.
Quickly, I repositioned myself in front of Arianne, because as soon as I moved a little away from her, they targeted her.
Suddenly, I clutched my stomach and vomited wildly on the ground. The reddish-brown mud indicated everything I needed to know.
'These bastards poisoned me, and they did it twice: first with that bitch Tyene's powder, and then with what they coated their weapons with,' I thought, seeing traces of blue lines on my arm and chest, the only places I had been touched.
'It looks like the poison is spreading quickly in my body; I must finish this quickly.'
"STOP," yelled one of the men disguised as a Dragon Guard.
Everyone stopped as one, but they didn't take their eyes off me, ready to resume the fight at any moment.
'They're Unsullied, how did I not realize that before?'
I turned my attention to the one who seemed to be in command, and he said:
"Kneel, or she'll kill your son."
"You can't beat me, so you use my son as blackmail," I said.
"The poison running through your veins ensures my victory. I just want to be sure to complete the task Master Illyrio asked me to accomplish, and that, alive."
I sneered contemptuously and then said, "Tyene won't kill her nephew."
"Don't be so sure."
"You won't kill him," I said, convinced she wouldn't.
To my great surprise, she drew a small dagger she had strapped to her leg, then said as she placed it under my son's throat:
"Drop your sword."
"I was almost certain you were a spy, but I didn't expose you because I wanted to give you a chance to prove me wrong."
"No, you let me do it because you're arrogant, because you're powerful and you think we're all beings made to satisfy your every whim. You didn't think I could ever be in this situation, the situation where you forced my father to die," she said coldly.
Arianne screamed, "You're ready to kill my son to satisfy your desire for revenge, Tyene? We are more than sisters!"
Tyene diverted her attention from me for a few seconds, and I took the opportunity to throw my sword at her, but an Unsullied threw himself in front of her and took the blow instead.
Her attention quickly refocused on me, and the man said, "Nice try, but you missed."
"I dropped my sword; isn't that what you wanted?"
"Now, kneel before me," said Tyene.
I quickly thought of a solution where we wouldn't all die, then I sneered contemptuously and said:
"You're no better than Gregor Clegane. If your father could see what you've become, maybe he'd regret the day he fucked your whore of a septa mother."
"SHUT UP," Tyene screamed, losing her temper.
"That doesn't seem like you to be a sore loser, your majesty," said the man whose identity I didn't know.
"You seem quite familiar with me, but I'm sure we've never met. So, how do you know me?" I asked, buying time, as I felt my powers were returning.
"Tyrion Lannister told me a lot about you after he left the capital, and before my last trip here, you know, when I convinced him to kill his father, who was your Hand at the time. By the way, between you and me, he's probably the best Hand you could ever have. I've gathered a lot of information about you," he said in a playful tone.
"And so?" I said.
"So nothing, I've won, at least not directly, but my master has won his revenge. The death of his son saddened him greatly, you know," said the man I finally identified as Illyrio Mopatis's henchman and probably Master Spy.
"You don't say," I said, this time completely confident.
"Kill him," he said quickly, finally realizing my true intentions.
'Just in time. I never wanted to use this ace because it's a power I kept in case I fell into such a desperate situation, but it seems that now is the time to play my last cards.'
All the Unsullied remained unmoved and didn't budge, then I said with a sneering smile:
"The poison you used on me was supposed to numb a mage's magical sense for a maximum of ten minutes, but unfortunately, my magical and physical constitution is ten times stronger than normal."
"So this effect lasted only one minute. The other minute was used to expel the poison..." I stopped talking to sniff the wounds on my arm, then continued: "Surely a mix of Manticore and Basilisk, hence the slight feeling of warmth in my arm. Another person would surely have seen their blood boil, but you're facing a dragon in human form."
"Don't move, I still have your... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH," Tyene screamed in pain as I broke the arm holding the dagger under my son's throat. I twisted it four times before saying, "Tyene, it pains me so much that you've degenerated into such a pathetic existence. Look at yourself; you could have had everything you wanted in life if you had just kept quiet."
I used magical telekinesis to catch my son and bring him into my arms. I caressed him, then handed him to Sandor, who took him clumsily.
"You killed my father," she said, beads of sweat from the pain dripping from her forehead.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Tyene. Honestly, I'm really sorry your father died. I liked Oberyn; we surely agree that he was a good person with a certain code of honor, probably forged by the death of his sister. What you don't see, however, with your narrow vision, is that you supported a Blackfyre bastard, and until his last breath, your father defended that bastard. He opposed my reign, he was nothing more than a traitor, and the law is very clear on that matter. He knew what he was risking; I gave him the choice, and he chose to die as a traitor, so don't expect me to mourn his loss and understand your actions."
"You're going to kill me," Tyene said, looking me straight in the eyes with nothing but anger.
"You think I'm a monster. Of course, I won't kill you. No, first, I'll go get your sisters in Dorne, then I'll torture you all a little to find out what you planned to do once I was dead. I'll uncover the names of all your accomplices, then after a little walk of shame, I'll have you whipped and make your executions a spectacle for all the common people of the Capital. Don't worry, you'll die last."
"YOU ARE THE DEVIL!"
I burst out laughing, then I forced my way through her mind, suppressing any sense of disobedience before shocking her mind, plunging her into the darkness of unconsciousness.
She collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
'Damn, that was close' I thought, sighing with relief at the danger I had just experienced.
'If I hadn't managed to use my Warg abilities as a mind-shocking attack, I might have been dead this time.'