EPTChapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Ilyes (Stephano)
Nicholas Plott rode at the head of the snake, the fifty thousand men long body swirling behind him. “This shouldn’t take so long, the scouts ought to have been back by now.” He halted his horse at the top of a hill and dismounted, Ilyes followed. “My lord, did you even listen?”
“Yes, yes, ten scouts stumbled upon some whores along the way, red alert man all stations”, Ilyes never thought war would be this boring. The Satouri host marched out of Casterly Rock three weeks ago, and in those three weeks absolutely nothing had happened. The only thing giving him comfort was the pink haired girl, Geraldine. Or Jessica. Or Roxanne. He liked the pink girl best, Geraldine sounded very princessy, it made him forget he was fucking whores.
“Stop the depressed boo-hooing, you have an army to command and a war to win.”
“I’m just not feeling too well lately, Nick.” It was true, Ilyes had not been himself since he left the comfort of the castle. They had to get up at the first light of dawn, and only stopped when the sun went down again. In the castle he had maids and cooks to make sure he never had to get up for anything, now he always needs to ride with the men, and give them words of advice and support. That’s what a real king would do, and Ilyes certainly deemed himself one.
“Maybe you have cancer,” Nick said in a serious tone.
“I don’t have cancer.”
“Have you been to the doctor, he can examine your blood. Our medics have been making a lot of progress on that part.”
“I’m not going to the doctor.”
“What am I hearing, my lion isn’t ill, is he?” Geraldine gave him a hug from behind and planted her soft lips on his right cheek.
“We don’t know, Nick said, “he won’t let the doctor check his blood.”
“I’m not even…” Ilyes was quickly interrupted by Nick: “We think it’s cancer.”
A horn blast bellowed over the green valley, out of the furthest visible tree line small black dots appeared. They were moving closer at a steady pace.
“The scouts are back, I told you, just your run-of-the-mill reconnaissance mission.”
“No,” Nick said, “they brought an extra man. We only sent out ten men, that’s eleven right there.”
The scouts drove their horses up the hill, and came rushing in. “DOCTOR, MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN.”
“What happened?!” Nick shouted.
“Nothing out of the order, my lord, until we found a northerner in the forest. He was on foot, when we tried to capture him he wounded Jeremy.”
“Ten horse versus one foot, and you get the son of our general wounded. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!” Nick’s face had turned red, he lived in a state of rage.
“Pardon, my lord, he didn’t wait for us, I told him not to but he did anyway. The northerner was fast, I didn’t think it was possible for a swordsman to hit a rider that badly. The steel went right under the joint, we tried to stop the bleeding but he needs a real doctor.”
“You do too if you don’t get out of my sight right now.” Nick drew his sword and slammed it into the nearest tree. Infuriated he looked at Ilyes, who was sipping from a fine Dornish. He finished the remainder of the cup and asked “Who the fuck is Jeremy?”
“He is of House Feast.”
“Oh…I see…who the fuck is house Feast?”
“Only your most important bannerman after my own House Plott, they brought fifteen thousand spears.”
“Fourteen thousand nine hundred and ninety nine standing, Ilyes smiled.”
“You don’t know war, boy. You don’t want your general’s son biting the dust, a commander needs to think clear and rationally, he can’t be on a revenge mission, it will get all of his men killed.”
“There there, the boy isn’t even dead yet.”
“He will be soon, I saw the wound, it’s deep and red with blood.”
“Of course it is, he got hit by a sword not a rainbow.” Ilyes sighed. “At least they got the guy, let’s talk to him, he could be useful.”
They had locked the prisoner in the big wooden cage they made for circumstances like this, so far Ilyes had only used it with his girls, and for far more pleasant things than locking someone up. The prisoner had brown hair, and was rather small and skinny. He didn’t look like a guy who could swipe you right of your galloping horse.
As with all northerners, his armor was of pure grey plate, without much decoration or glamour. He wore a red cloak with a silver spoon emblem on it.
“What is your name?” Ilyes asked.
The prisoner didn’t twitch an inch.
“ He is Markus of House Thorzain, a northern general, now your house sigils boy.” Nick said.
“Hello there, Markus, my name is Ilyes. This is Geraldine, isn’t she lovely?”
Thorzain still said nothing.
“Wow, you aren’t gay are you? If you are I’m going to want a bigger cage. I’m very handsome you know, don’t want to get molested in my sweet as rose sleep.”
“Why were you on foot, and why were you alone?”
“Horse stumbled, broke it’s leg. The men found it not far from him.” Nick replied.
“Thank you, Nicholas, but the question wasn’t for you.”
“I didn’t expect to talk to a Satouri, I heard the boy was quite a slack, lazy and useless.” Thorzain said mockingly.
“Oh, I slept till noon and my most productive activity so far is feeding a war dog the lemon cake I unfortunately dropped, I really wonder why these horrible things happen to innocent boys like me.”
“Shouldn’t have joined the false king if you wanted the gods to have mercy on your treat. You’re a stain on your families heritage. Your father, that was a man, a real lord, not a clown like you.”
“The boy probably has cancer, let’s not get too offensive.” Nick smiled.
“It’s ok, Nicholas, I am not the best lord. But I will be, just you wait. When I’m in Riverrun you’re king will curse and rage, and I will smile at him from atop the battlements as I watch how he is forced to storm into the combined Riverlands and Satouri forces.”
“Only there won’t be any Riverland men left, and there’s a good chance I’ll become your ally so we can fight Dongraegu together.”
“If you cowards are both gonna hide behind your walls, we’ll wipe you all out in one go. Thanks for saving us the long journey south to the Rock.”
“Now I feel guilty, you will never visit that beautiful city because of…me? What a shame. Now, why were you out there alone?”
“That’s a question only the king in the north can answer.”
Nicholas pulled Ilyes away, and made him follow him to the olive tree. “My lord, I know I’ve pleaded and lost this case before, but it’s not too late to switch sides. We could still join the northerners and push the false king of his throne.”
“For what? To go back to the way it was before he came? Like it’s any difference for us.”
“Nick is a loyal friend, but I'm not sure whether I want to reveal my scheme now, or tomorrow when we're inside Riverrun."
“It’s a matter of good versus bad, and Dongraegu is a bad man. I know Geoff, he’s a real man, a man of honor, dignity and integrity. He is a better king than Dograegu will ever be.”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, FUCK YOU NORTHERNERS, GODS CURSE YOU ALL!”
“What the hell was that?” Ilyes asked.
“MY SON, MY ONLY SON. WHERE ARE YOU SATOURI, GIVE ME THIS MAN’S HEAD!”
“I presume the boy didn’t make it,” Nick replied.
“There you are, what are you gonna do with him, my lord? Can I pick how we kill him?” George of House Feast brought fifteen thousand spears, and he looked like he would drive every single one of them through Thorzain’s head if left unattended. The man was well in his fifties, old but still smart, not half-bad a fighter either. He was bald, but had an enormous grey beard to make up for it. A loyal man, of the old school.
“Nobody is killing anyone”, Nick said.
“I didn’t ask you, I asked my lord, the only one I answer to.”
“Funny, a month ago you were willing to let me lead you to war, amusing to see how loyalty swings when a decision doesn’t please you.” Nick thought, but didn’t speak.
“Let’s stay calm here, he still has valuable intel.” Ilyes said. “And I don’t want to kill my future ally’s general unless I absolutely have to.”
“HE KILLED MY BOY”. Feast opened the cage and dragged Thorzain out, face first through the muddy soil. “Can you look me in the eye, and tell me you don’t want me to drive my sword through his neck?!” He drew his sword with one hand and pushed Throzain’s head down on a rock with the other.
Nick drew his valyrian steel sword “Observer” in response, and put it between Feast’s sword and Thorzain’s neck. “You don’t touch him, he’s not a bad man.”
“O, he’s not a bad man. I bet he meant to send me a basket of lemon cakes and has slain my boy by pure accident.” Feast pushed Nick’s block away, and swung at him. Valyrian steel was fast enough to block the surprise blow without much trouble, and counter with deadly swiftness right after it. Nick was by far the superior swordsman, but nothing matched the strength of a grieving father.
“HE’S A GOOD MAN, HUH?” The steel sang a song of sadness and anger. Nick had to do his best to block and dodge the flurry of incoming blows.
“A REAL GOOD FELLOW!” The sword went up and came crashing down, almost planting itself in Nick’s shoulder.
“SAY THAT HE’S A GOOD MAN ONE MORE TIME, I DARE YOU BOY!” The sword swung right and left, up and down, fake left and fake right. The blows kept coming each one, as strong as the other, the adrenaline given to him by his rage was too big for Nick to handle. He tried to counter, but even valyrian steel wasn’t fast enough to make anything happen in between such ferocious and quick blows.
“JEREMY OF HOUSE FEAST, HE KILLED HIM, MURDERED HIM JUST LIKE THAT!” The sword kept flying through the sky, blow after blow after blow.
And then the steel swung upwards, and came crashing down, taking the head straight off. Ilyes stood there, with red steel in his hands. Thorzain’s head rolled off the stone, and tumbled down the hill leaving a red trail of a red gory mess.
Nick was gasping for breath, his eyes full of surprise. He disgusted killing prisoners, especially men like Thorzain, who were good and honorable in his eyes. It was no secret that he preferred the northerners over almost all of his own allies.
Feast put his sword away, and snorted as a sign of approval.
“Blood for blood, no death of one of my own shall go unanswered. I know I’ll never be your chosen one, I know you all wish my father was here and not me, I do too. Know that I find no comfort in the shadow of the throne. I will never wear the broken crown my father left me, one seventh of the kingdoms is a disgrace for a brotherhood our strength and valor. Tomorrow night we will be inside the walls of Riverrun, but I’m afraid I have spoken false words, we will not be there to defend it from the northerners. We will be there to take it, when the Riverland sheep sleep the lions of Satouri will roar. I will not stop until I, Ilyes Satouri, am king. I will not stop until I stand atop the highest tower of the Red Keep, and ask the world “CAN YOU HEAR ME ROAR?!”, and the world whispers back “Yes”.
Wow 10 chapters, that's a lot. Never thought I'd write this many when I started. You guys still like it? Ratings and comments are appreciated
. But still, Stephano fighting xD
