FicWad

TRSTANE

I hadn’t been in much of a hurry. I had taken my time . . . visiting taverns, bedding women, cheating at games of chance, getting in tavern brawls over women or accusations of my cheating . . . So it had taken me weeks to get to King’s Landing. When I arrived, there was some sort of hullabaloo going on. Everyone seemed to be trying to go in the same direction. As the crowd tried to move, they were being countered by soldiers in gold cloaks who were trying to clear the street. It was clear I would never see whatever that were trying to get through at this rate. I shifted into the were-world and climbed the mesa that the nearby building represented. In the distance I could see the butte that was this world’s version of the Red Keep. I danced along the mesas until I came to a field of Joshua trees and roadrunners with a butte behind them. Shifting into the real-world, I found my self on a rooftop over looking a large square filled with soldiers lined up in rows. Around the edge of the square were people who had come to see them. on the other side of the square was an enormous ornate building decorated in heptagrams. This must be the Sept. There were soldiers lining the stairs on both sides. The doors of the Sept opened and a group of knights, in full armor came out. The quality and colors of their heraldry made me guess there were all high ranked knights. Several of them had the white cloaks of the King’s Guard. One of them had leather covered armor and a wolf pelt on his shoulders. He was accompanied by a couple of boys that looked like they must have been his sons. The one that looked more like him had leather covered armor too. He appeared to be close to my age. He and the younger boy were both accompanied by enormous wolves, one of which was a sacred white wolf! All three of them were dressed in grey. More nobles filed out and moved to the sides. Then, came a group all in gold, with stag heraldry. The one with the fanciest clothes came first. Then, came a sour looking armored Knight with what looked to be his wife and daughter. The young girl wore a veil over her head. Strangely, they were also accompanied by a woman barely dressed, all in red. Obviously the sour man’s, wife’s, paramour. Finally, a very fat armored knight in gold with a crown on his head and a war-hammer in his hand strode out to the edge of the landing at the top of the steps to address the crowd.

“My friends!” began the fat man. “We have all been betrayed! Betrayed by the Kingslayer, betrayed by my former Queen, but most of all betrayed by Tywin Lannister, late Lord Paramount of the Westland and late Warden of the West. Why do I call him the Late Tywin Lannister? Because he has brought war to our lands! He sent the Mountain, Gregor Clegane into the Riverlands to rape and reeve like the Ironborn used to. But the gods wouldn’t allow Tywin’s villainy to stand. The Mountain is dead.”

The Crowd cheered at this news.

“Some say the Mountain was felled by one of the Old Gods of my friend, Ned,” said the fat man, glancing at the man with the wolves. “Others, think it was an aspect of the Warrior, Seven hells, my friend Thoros and red Missy there think it was their Lord of Light. Who ever it was, the Gods have made it clear that they will not let the Lannister betrayal stand! The High Septon has blessed our holy cause! So now, we go to the Westlands to root the lions out of their den! And this time next year, the Rains of Castamere will have a new verse! A verse about how the Lannisters had vengeance rain down upon them. OURS IS THE FURY! OURS IS THE FURY! OURS IS THE FURY! OURS IS THE FURY! OURS IS THE FURY! OURS IS THE FURY! OURS IS THE FURY!”


JON

In Winterfell the Septon, and especially Lady Stark, made it clear that I was not welcome in the Sept. So it was enlightening to see the ceremonies of the Church of the Seven Gods for the first time. But unlike, the Weirwood in the Godswood, I didn’t feel that weird anti-Force here in the Sept. I could feel the Force in here. But it was not stronger or weaker here than in any other building. I also could feel the anti-Force or magic radiating off of that strange women in red. I always avoided her when I could. Shireen didn’t like her either. So we would avoid her together. After the ceremony, where in the King and his armies were blessed, we filed out to the landing outside where the King made a speech, before mounting his horse and and leading the armies of the Stormlands, Crownlands and Reach out of King’s Landing.

“Father, take Summer with you!” suggested Bran. “This way I can always know you are safe.”

“Good Idea!” I agreed. “Ghost, go with him too.”

Father thanked us and gave Bran and I each a hug before mounting his horse and riding away with the army.

Those of us who were left, Prince Stanis and his Family, Prince Renly, the rest of the Small Council, the Gold Cloaks and a portion of the Stormlands army, returned to the Red Keep. On our way our out of the square, I couldn’t help noticing a man on the roof of a nearby building. He was strongly radiating magic. He seemed to notice my attention, because he suddenly ducked down and vanished from view. Apparently, Bran and Edric are not the only wizards in the world. We continued on to the Red Keep.


SAMWISE

I was most fortunate to get wind of the King’s plan to seek the blessing of the High Septon for his war. My advanced notice allowed me to arrive in time to get a prominent location from which I could observed the proceedings. As the day progressed, I observed soldiers filing into the square. The crowds of common people were pushed back. Fortunately, I had wisely chosen a location in advance that was far enough back that I would not be evicted and elevated enough to afford me a view of the proceedings. When the equestrian class arrived, they did so in ascending rank with the lowest ranked of the highborn arriving in time for to make certain they would be allowed to attend. So of course, the Onion Knight, Ser Davos Seaworth was one of the first to arrive. I had been hearing favorable laudations of his character. As the Noon hour approached, ever more prominent figures appeared, until our most high borne noblemen appeared: the Tyrel party from the Reach included the Lord Paramount Mace Tyrel, himself, his daughter Margeary and his son, Loras, along with my own former pater familiaris, Lord Randyl Tarly. With them, was the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, Renly Baratheon. The Starks of Winterfell arrived: Lord Eddard Stark and his two sons Brandon, and my good friend: Ser Jon. Both the Stark boys were accompanied by their dire-wolves, which had grown to a larger size that any wolf I had ever seen. When the King’s other brother arrived, he brought his family, which included not only his wife and daughter, but also a scantily clad priestess of the fire cult Prince Stanis had joined. The other members of the Small Council arrived with the King, resplendent in his armor, with his war hammer in hand and flanked by the King’s Guard.

The crowd had nothing to do but wait, while the church service of the Seven commenced. Roaming the crowd, were pickpockets and vendors selling war souvenirs and snacks. I recognized Hot Pie from Flea Bottom, selling his wares much more quietly than usual as he moved through the crowd.

Presently, the nobles emerged from the Heptagonal Church. When the King appeared, he gave a rousing speech to justify his jihad against the dastardly Lannisters that he’d divorced. Then, led his army in triumph from the square.
I headed back to my print shop to write this up for the next edition. I would need to think up a clever cartoon to lampoon the nobles who had appeared here today.


MARGEARY

I spent the service sitting with Loras and Renly. The Church of the Seven gods is quite odd. I recognize their Goddesses from the Wiccan religion of my own world. But their theology and ceremony reminded me more of the Catholic Church. I had been to a few Catholic services. I didn’t matter if it was in English or Latin. I still didn’t understand what was going on. It was the same with the Seven. Perhaps if I had not taken over the Reach and sent away my Septas, I might understand more of the details of their faith. But it didn’t really matter to me. I tuned it out an listened to the plants I had seeded throughout the city, checking in on my growing criminal empire. After that first gang, I had repeated the process until I controlled all the gangs in Flea Bottom. From there I was gradually spreading my influence over the city. My agents were outside the Sept right now picking pockets in the crowd. Using my plants for eyes, I observed what else was going on in the City.

After the Service, we filed outside to listen to the King’s speech. It was quite borrish and bombastic. And when the King departed, we returned to the Red Keep. Tonight I would go on the prowl.


EDRIC

Being a bastard, I was not allowed to go to the big ceremony, I therefore decided to go anyway. I flew on my broom, high over the square. I didn’t need to worry about being seen. One of the benefits of being the reincarnated Master of the Stranger is that I could turn myself invisible so well that i could not be detected, not even by Jon. So I hovered overhead and watched as the crowd waited for the King to come out and make his speech. I was surprised to see Lord Stark leave with both the dire-wolves. As they were leaving, I saw Jon suddenly turn and look up at a dornish man who had been watching from a rooftop. The Dornishman had been staring at Red Missy, as the King called her. When he realized that Jon was looking at him, he ducked down, then vanished! He was a wizard! Bran and I were not the only wizards in the world!


TORMUND

After weeks of trekking parallel to The Wall, we finally came to the Eastern end, only to find that the damn thing extended out over the water a ways.

“Damn! I was hoping we could go around it,” I said.

“Gate!” boomed Wun-Wun, as he point to the gate at the base of The Wall that covered a tunnel under it.

“I think the Crows call that castle: East-watch-by-the-sea,” offered Ygrette.

“Let’s see if they will be more reasonable than the other murder of Crows,” I said, as I pulled out the parley banner.

From on top of The Wall, we heard a horn sound twice. Then, nothing. No one opened the gate to come out to talk with us. Nothing. We waited the rest of the day, then all through the night. Through it all, the gagged wights were trying their best to wiggle free and make disturbing noises as they had, the whole way here. When dawn began to break, I nudged the others wake.

“Let’s go,” I said. “They obviously don’t want to talk to us. If we want to go around that Wall, we’ll need a boat. Let’s go up the coast. See if we can find a fishing village. “


JOFFREY

Although I had my band, we couldn’t always all sneak down the Mole Hole at the same time. So often I would often let whoever was there play along with us. This gave me exposure to the other kinds of music of Westeros. The largest group of the Nights Watch were from the North. The locals were Northerners too. Their music sounded kind of Irish to my ear. They even had their own version of bagpipes. It had a single drone that was much bigger than the Scottish bagpipes. So Northern Bagpipes were too big to carry into battle like the Scotts do. Instead it was a sit around the fire in Winter instrument. The chanter only had a single reed and made a sound that was a little like the lower sounds a clarinet might make. The second, largest group of Night’s Watch recruits were Islanders, especially Ironborn. A bunch of them had been forced to join after a rebellion a few years back. Islanders tended to like sea chanties, with the Ironborn preferring murder ballads about how they paid the iron price and murdered and/or raped some poor girl. There were a few Riverlanders like: Thom, that liked Jazz. But Thom was the only one of them who was any good with an instrument. My audience at the Mole Hole, liked music they could dance to. And I was quickly turning this brothel/tavern into the hip place to be. It was starting to draw people from surrounding villages to come hear us play. Colleen was our most constant member. She was the only one us who didn’t have to sneak away from Castle Black to perform. And an audience request made me realize that she had been holding out on me. Turns our she played some Northern instrument that resembled a violin. It had seven strings, only three of which were actually played. The other four made sympathetic vibrations like a sitar. When she first “put out” for me, I thought were were starting some grand love affair. But no, turns our she was just trying to “pussy whip” me into submission. Turns out she had been fucking all the members of the band and was already leader of it when I was not around. The only reason she hadn’t just kicked me out was: she wanted my songs. She could recognize that I was the musical genius of the group. I had an unfair advantage. I was teaching them not only my own songs both from my past life and new ones I was writing, I was also teaching them my favorites songs by Little Richard, Elvis, Chuck Berry, the Stones, the Doors, the Byrds. If it was danceable and I knew it, we played it. The resulting sound was a little like a Bob Wills record I heard once. Other taverns were starting to open up in Moles Town that played our kind of music. But when word went through the town that I was there, all the musicians would leave the other taverns so they could come hear us play.