Eighth Month of 282 A.C. King's Landing
Ser Jaime Lannister
Being a knight of the Kingsguard had been something he had looked at and aspired to as a young boy, and when at fifteen he had been raised to that sacred order he had never been more proud. It was an honour to be considered the join the ranks of such prestigious knights as Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Gerold Hightower. He had been honoured and flattered, but then things had grown sour, instead of being given the chance to compete at Harrenhal the king sent him back to King's Landing to guard over a child and the Queen, not the sort of glory he had thought he would earn for himself. He did not even have Cersei with which to comfort himself, for his father and she had returned to the Rock when news of his appointment had been made public and she remained in the Rock whilst he was here in King's Landing. Listening to the things that haunted his dreams at night.
That King Aerys was mad was something he had never doubted, but listening to the man now, he wondered how the realm had gone on for so long in ignorance. The man had grown clearly worse as the moons had progressed and the war raged outside and Prince Rhaegar still could not be found. The king's voice was high and shrill as he spoke. " So that oaf Connington got himself captured did he? No doubt working alongside the traitors to make it seem as though he was my man. I always knew he was Rhaegar's man, that boy would grovel for a place at the table like a dog, were it not for my son and his strange ways. Where are the rebels now?"
This was a meeting of his closest advisors and as such it was the eunuch who replied. "They are camped somewhere near the God's Eye Your Grace. They have been working hard to remove any trace of loyalists from the riverlands. Why Lord Hoster himself only the other day stormed the villages of Lord Goodbrook and put them to the sword, scores of people dead. Lords Stark and Arryn have carried out campaigns against Lords Mooton and Darry and as such their forces are dwindling but so are the forces of the rebels."
Grim tidings indeed, and yet the king seemed more concern about something else. "And what of the two knights I sent out to get the remaining men that that fool Connington had? Have they succeed or have they betrayed me as well?"
The eunuch was silent and then in a solemn voice said. "Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor have succeeded in bringing some 5,000 crownlords and some 4,000 Stormlords back from the Stoney Sept and are marching back to King's Landing as we speak. As to what remains of the loyalist Riverlords, well they are struggling against the tide of the onslaught coming from the rebels."
The king is silent a long moment and then his voice comes out a screech. "And what happened to the rest of the crownlords? Have they betrayed me as well? We sent thousands of men with Connington how is it possible that he lost so many men? The Stoney Sept is nothing but a small town not big enough for a complete carnage to occur. Was Connington so incompetent?"
There is a nervous silence as the king's closest advisors seek to consider their next response. The eunuch speaks once more and says. "It was not Lord Connington's fault, but the rebels seemed to have been aware of what sort of moves he would make. And as such they planned accordingly, from the survivors it would seem the north hit the town first and began despatching the men Connington sent forward. When the rest of the rebels arrived he stood not a chance."
The king screams then. "Those blasted wolves once more coming and ruining everything. I always said to father that we should have had the Boltons put into power when we had the chance. Edwyle Stark was a bloody tyrant who always did nothing good, and as such his son is no better. The man's own heir threatened us and died a deserving death. He has no cause for rebelling. As to his daughter, it is clear she is a whore and deserves to be treated as such."
Again a nervous silence fills the room and then the king speaks once more. "Tell me master of whispers has my idiot of a son been found? He spends all day with his head up his arse and in books and then he runs away with a Baratheon betrothed, I did not think he had any balls. Ha." The king laughs.
Varys once more speaks then. "It would appear that Prince Rhaegar is returning from wherever he has been. Our spies within the realm have reported seeing him riding hard from the Kingsroad, without accompaniment though. So it is clear that he has left Ser Gerold wherever he was found."
Jaime tenses at that, something is happening here, the king senses it as well. "He is returning without any protection? Is the boy an idiot or merely incompetent? This is war and he leaves Hightower with the rest of his fools. I tell you now that he is plotting something and Hightower, Dayne and Whent are all part of it. No doubt he wants to remove me from my throne, but I shall not allow it. I shall not allow it!"
At this Lord Simon Staunton a lickspittle speaks. "Then act now Your Grace. Before Prince Rhaegar can come back and try and set things to right as he sees them, why not act now and remove him and his heirs from the succession? That way Prince Viserys is your only heir and can be groomed to be a true Targaryen King."
Lucerys Velaryon speaks in agreement. "Aye that is the most reasonable course of action Your Grace. Rhaegar is a traitor, and his blood is tainted by it, what is there to say his children are not tainted with the same traitorous nature as their father? Prince Viserys is a good lad and would make a fine king."
Jaime's sword hand itched then wishing he could strangle Velaryon but he withheld the urge and sighed internally when Varys spoke. "Whilst Prince Viserys might be a good suggestion for an heir, one would be forgetting Dorne and no one can truly forget the Dornish for they add much to the strength and backing of the royal army. And as such we cannot afford to turn them against us."
The king snorted and said. "I hold Doran Martell's sister hostage and his nephew and niece, he is obliged to send men when the call comes. I shall need to remind him of this the fool. Now all of you leave and let me speak with the lion alone." The lords bow and file out leaving only Jaime and the king in the room, the man looks at him his eyes large and fearful. "Tell me boy, what do you think of what has been said here today?"
Jaime is silent a long time considering his answer before responding. "I believe what Lord Varys said is the right course. Dorne must be reminded of whom it owes its loyalty to first and as such must also be tempted back into the fray."
The king snorts. "Spoken like a true son of Tywin Lannister. Now tell me boy, what would your father do?"
Jaime hesitates now knowing that he is treading very dangerous ground and as such his response is slow and thoughtful. "I believe my father would tempt the rebels out and wait for them to make a mistake first."
Aerys snorts and roars. "AND THEN HE WOULD COME AND STAB ME IN THE BACK." He pants and breathes heavily then and then says. "I will not allow that to happen, you are a fool to believe I truly care what you do or think Lannister. I could kill you now and your father would be powerless. But I will not, hanging you like a bone to a dog, is much more amusing. Now send in Manly Stokeworth and leave."
Jaime bows before the king and leaves sending Stokeworth into face the king's increasingly erratic behaviour, dismissed for the night he leaves for White Sword Tower. He enters the place and finds it quite empty, no surprise there his sworn brothers are scattered and soon enough he shall be alone as well. Lewyn walks down from his room to join Jaime at the table where they take their meals. He seems refreshed and Jaime suspects his paramour is upstairs. Jaime likes the Dornishmen in this city of snakes and liars he is the only honest one left now that the others are gone. "How is the king this fair night?" his sworn brother asks.
Jaime grimaces as he takes a sip of wine and says. "Not well my prince, not well at all. Something troubles his mind as it often does and those sparrows keep twittering to him about this and that."
Martell grimaces and says. "Aye, they can be the ones who often ail the king, though they claim to be helping him. Some days I swear they are merely looking out for their own purpose. And if we were not around they would kill him and have done with it. Who guards the king now?"
Jaime takes another sip of wine and says. "Ser Manly Stokeworth and Ser Janos Slynt. Stokeworth is good and true I am not sure about Slynt, he seems too keen for advancement to ever consider staying true."
Lewyn snorts then and says. "Ah of course. But you must remember that not everyone is as honourable as us brother, nor is everyone as steadfast as us. Why even I am not as steadfast as some of our fellow sworn brothers, after all my love is upstairs and gods alone knows what Aerys would do if he knew."
Jaime laughs then and says. "Depending on his mood either congratulate you or order you killed or both. Gods knows what is happening with that man. I do worry Lewyn, I worry for the safety of the queen and the princess and their children. Sooner or later the man will turn to look at them and think to use them. This tension between him and his son, cannot be good for the realm."
Lewyn's face darkens at mention of Rhaegar and his voice is unusually calm when he says. "Aye that is true, but whom are we to question the workings of the family? We are sworn to protect them and obey no? Not give our thoughts, even if perhaps our thoughts could aid in stopping them committing idiocy, such as what Rhaegar committed. Of course our brothers would tell us both to be quiet and to ensure we merely did our job, even Arthur, but his fire was extinguished long ago."
Jaime has never heard such words from his friend's mouth and asks. "How are the princess and the children doing? I would go to see them, yet the king demands all of my attention and as such I am not sure whether or not going to see them now would be the right thing to do."
Lewyn's face softens at the mention of his niece and her children and as such his voice reflects this. "They are well, Elia is doing well considering the circumstances but all in all some things are better left unsaid then said. She want for this war to be over, so that the children can be safe without worry. The children do well but they would benefit more from not having this war hanging over their heads. Still there are things we must do and we must accept that. For one thing the king has asked me to go south to Dorne to remind my nephew about this."
Jaime looks at his friend with some surprise. "So the king has already spoken with you about going to Dorne? Varys only brought it up today, so I thought it was something new."
"Then it was a setup, the King spoke with me four days ago about it. And as such I must make a move now otherwise he will send some other scumbag to go and do it. Be careful of the spider Jaime, he is more dangerous than you realise." His sworn brother says before heading upstairs.
How true those words would be from his sworn brother, the last piece of advice he would ever give Jaime, before joining death's welcoming embrace.