(A/N: A bit late but it's a double update so I better not get no complaints.)
For a rule that was on the verge of crumbling, King's Landing was in a much better state than I would have expected.
But then again, humans were like that. The exceptional among them would often forcefully drag along the rest, intentionally or otherwise. Tywin Lannister was good at what he did, that much I wouldn't deny.
People from all walks of life, rich merchants, tailors, smiths, apprentices and small-time criminals and even prostitutes passed by as I watched quietly, standing near a wall of some no-name tailor's shop. Their faces told me much, too much, what secrets they didn't were given away by the way they walked, the state of their hands, the way they breathed.
All I was rather disinterested in.
"Is the city short on food?" I wondered aloud, cocking my head at the somewhat gaunt faces of the citizens. "I guess that makes sense."
"Aye." My eyes were drawn to man who answered me. A plain man, with dark hair and a fat face. "Heard King Joffrey's marrying Margaery Tyrell though. The soldiers be promisin' we're gonna more 'n we can handle soon enough."
I narrowed my eyes.
The Reach could muster the largest army out of all the Seven Kingdoms. With the forces of the Westerlands, Robb would be in for quite the war if it came to it.
"War might be taking a turn." I pulled down the hood over my head.
While I had never made any effort to hide who and what I was, I was inclined to temporarily mask my identity to enter King's Landing just so I could see how my 'acquaintances' in the city would react to my presence there.
"I'd say so. You ask me. King Joffrey ain't got much of a chance no more. What with Stannis takin' his ass and the Northern Kingdoms takin' turns fucking his mouth." He grinned, showing crooked yellow teeth.
That was a rather interesting way of putting it.
I smiled back, "You've got a colourful vocabulary, eh?"
"What's that?" He scratched his hair, and I saw lice fall out.
"Don't you mind. I'm gonna see if I can get into the Red Keep."
"Uh... Good luck."
"Appreciate it." I waved a hand before continuing my way down the road.
King's Landing was an incredibly large city for one made wholly by men, with cobbled roads and markets and brothels and granaries. One look to the side and I could make out hundreds of quays in the harbour, but strangely, all ships were moored and none looked in any mood to sail.
My interest in the city faded as quick as it did last time.
For all its grandeur, I could spot beggars and homeless with each glance, the air reeked of sweat, piss and shit. On my way up Aegon's Hill to the Red Keep, more than once I saw Lannister men extorting or just messing around with helpless elderly and lone mothers.
Needless to say, I intervened each and every single time, making certain they wouldn't repeat their... mistakes.
But, it dissuaded me enough to not even bother exploring the city. Hell, I didn't even bother to remember the names of the streets and whatnot until I came upon a familiar sight. The same gate I'd blown through on my way to Winterfell. For me, it seemed as though that was but an hour ago but I understood that it was quite the time for humans... so why hadn't they finished repairing it?
Shirtless, grim-covered workers ran about, working at the wall as more stone was carted by horses.
I didn't get much time to ponder over what I saw before a guard approached me. His face was masked by a chain coif under a helmet. He wasn't clad in the Lannister red, but instead the black mail of the City Watch, with a heavy gold cloak clasped to his shoulder. "My Lord, you are requested."
There was a tremble in his form, and I could tell that he was no soldier.
"Oh?" I raised a brow. "Lead the way."
Maybe I hadn't been as discreet as I'd thought.
He spoke out as we passed by the broken gate. "That was you, wasn't it, milord?"
"Yep." I nodded, looking at the soldiers around us.
The other soldiers steered clear of him, at times, making way specifically when they noticed us. He didn't lead me in through the main doors, but instead into the stables where I spotted the stable boy I paid with a sword for two horses, and through a small backdoor.
Then, quietly, we made our way past a broken courtyard, into a decrepit room that had long fallen to disrepair, out to a long winded stairway. I followed him curiously, throwing caution to the wind for I had no need for it.
Finally, he stopped near a wall, and looked up at a fairly recent painting, a century or so old, depicting a woman with hair the colour of my own and deep violet eyes. He fingered the dark wooden frame of the waiting until a distinct 'clink' rang out before opening it as though it were a door.
"So that's why I was feeling a draft." I mused curiously. "Of course an old castle's got secret paths."
My strange guide didn't respond to my words. Instead, he retrieved a burning torching from the wall, pushing aside cobwebs as he did. As he led me through the dark, past long corridors and up old stairways that looked as if they would cave under my weight with one misstep, I could tell that he was intimately familiar with these secret passages.
"How long we gotta go? I feel like the way up to the Keep was shorter than this."
"Not much longer, milord. Apologies, milord."
"No one's buying that act, man." I laughed, patting his back.
It was only after we passed another two stairways and three corridors that he finally stopped at the base of a much smaller set of stairs. He waved the torch around a bit, groping at the dirty wall in search of a chain I could clearly see.
Sighing, I pulled it for him.
The wall above us shifted and floated up, revealing a luxurious room.
"This was one unnecessarily long trip." I poked, following him up.
Once 'upstairs', I couldn't help but let out a small whistle.
Fine carpets were laid over the stone floor, under rich furniture that probably cost more than what the common folk would make in a lifetime. A long table was set up under a massive painting depicting drakes and nobility I did not recognise. The assortment of foods on the table caught my attention though.
I could smell roasted pheasant, steaks, cooked with a variety of herbs like mint and salts and whatnot. Then there were the fine wines in jewelled golden jugs, with goblets of silver beside them.
Alcohol tasted like shit, and since I couldn't get intoxicated anyway, I had little interest in it. Wine, on the other hand, was very welcome. A fact my host seemed to be aware of considering I couldn't see it.
To the right, there was a small balcony, the path divided by a pillar. Richly coloured curtains of red and gold hung from the ceiling, tied to the either side.
Unceremoniously, I walked over and took a plate, filling it with whatever caught my eye. "I'm not marrying you, no matter how good the food is."
"Ah well, I had to make the attempt."
"And what a fine attempt it was." I nodded, filling a goblet with white wine. "Praise where it's due." I turned around with my food. The soldier who had led me here had disappeared, replaced by a plump with a bald scalp, dressed in a loose silk tunic that reached well below his belly with a patterned vest over it and cotton pants.
I sniffed at the air curiously. He reeked of rich perfumes, smelling like flowers.
"We couldn't talk in an inn?" I questioned as I bit into a pheasant leg.
He shook his head, wearing a thin smile. "I could not disrespect you in such a way, my lord. Varys, Master of Whisperers, at your service. Lord Karl." He kneeled, lowered his head and held out his hands at either side. "I fear there is nothing that could quite match what you deserve, but I hope you are sated."
"Humans always have been excellent at finding delicacies." I nodded to myself.
They could make good food out of just about anything, things other species wouldn't even think of consuming.
I took a seat near the table and looked over at the bald man. "So then, what is it you want, child?"
Varys took a deep breath, then stared at me with an eerie calm.
"My birds sing from all across the realm, my lord. And I hear them. I hear of secrets men whisper in the dark confines of their holdfasts where they think none would know, and I know truths known to none but the hearts of their keepers. They sing of you as well, Lord."
I sipped on my wine, eying the fat man curiously as he talked. "And what do they say?"
"That you have helped those that lords oft do not even think of. They fail because they do not, then fail to learn their lesson and blame others." His dark eyes trembled. "Yet you have destroyed the Iron Islands, and life on them. You burnt the Twins. You destroyed tens of thousands of men with a brief flicker of the power you hold."
"What's your point?" I cocked my head.
He smiled in defeat and held out his hands. "It is evident to me, even if it is not so for those I serve, that we stand little chance. I wish to ask you this, Lord Karl. What is it you desire of us? Are your acts the whims of a wandering god?"
"Perhaps."
His plump body trembled, but I didn't laugh at him for it. I smiled softly. "But child. You have no need to fear me. I have travelled and fought, for longer than you could imagine. And I've seen. I've seen men fight to their last breath to defend what they hold dear. I've seen mothers and fathers starve to death, make food of themselves for their young. I have seen a brother protect his sister, and die for it. I've seen men toil, knowing that all is lost, with the hope that change would come."
"Then-..."
My smile softened. "Yet I've seen fathers make slaves of their children. Brothers turn their blades against brothers. Mothers suffocate their own babes. But even with this, your kind have taught me this. Humans are beautiful. Frail flesh and bones I could end with a snap of my fingers." I snapped my fingers. "But you are capable of such immense beauty and greatness."
I, who knew only struggle, battle, war, and death, had come to treasure life in the fleeting moments in this world... Or maybe that had always been the case, and I was too distracted to admit it.
I rose to my feet, walked over to the bald man, and patted his shoulder.
"So do not fear me. I bear your kind no ill will. I wish you success."
Then I went back to my food. "I only wish Marika and the others could see things like this."
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Hope you enjoyed.
Comment any thoughts or suggestions for the story you might have.