Chapter 25: The Labyrinth
Jon leaned back in a chair that had been brought for him a while ago, the other learned men had long since returned to their tents believing that a fresh mind would serve them better in solving the puzzle that lay before them, all of them apart from Qyburn who was as eager to solve this mystery as Jon was though they were both struggling to decipher the language that was written on the wall before them.
"I feel we are close Jon, there are just a few parts of the puzzle that seem to elude us," Qyburn said as he ran his hands over the writing while his shadow danced against the wall. Qyburn was a very interesting man, while Jon didn't know much about him he did know that he was an exiled Maester who was told to leave due to his experiments which were deemed unethical and monstrous, though whether these accusations were true or not Jon didn't know.
"You may be right Qyburn but it seems to be a large part of the puzzle if it can leave us so stumped," Jon replied to him, he then stood up and joined Qyburn at the writing wall as he inspected the wall. While it did seem to be an ancient form of the Sarnori language, there wasn't much else either of them could tell, the words that they had been able to translate were nonsense leading them to believe they had done so incorrectly.
"Perhaps the others had the right idea of tackling this conundrum with a fresh mind," Qyburn admitted as he sat back down on his chair and poured himself and Jon a cup of watered-down wine.
Jon waved him off "A fresh mind is unlikely to make a difference, if a person cannot solve it then it simply won't be," he replied as he looked intently at the symbols in front of him. Jon sat back down in his seat as he drank from his cup, his mind raced as he tried to come up with new possibilities and theories though nothing he thought of fit completely.
"Perhaps we are looking at this the wrong way," Jon said aloud as he leaned forward.
"What do we know of the Fisher Queens?" he said as he looked to Qyburn who just raised his eyebrows before breathing out and trying to wrack his brain to think of anything he might know about the dawn-era civilisation.
"I'm afraid precious little is known about the Fisher Queens, only that they were known to be powerful and wise and lived in floating palaces, men and women alike visited them for their wisdom," Qyburn stated.
Jon nodded "I heard the same thing, though perhaps there is more we can discover," he said as he stroked his chin.
"The first Sarnori King is said to be born from the Last Fisher Queen, and they supposedly ruled the Silver Sea which is dried up and now the Dothraki sea," Jon repeated to himself as he tried to remember all the facts.
"It is hard to separate truth from fiction, while there are some things that could be true, there are others that are nothing more than fantastical tales," Qyburn stated.
Jon chuckled "I wouldn't have expected such words from you Qyburn, especially with that Valyrian steel link on your chain," Jon said with amusement in his voice.
Qyburn took this well and laughed "While I do believe in magic I do not believe it to exist anymore, only remnants of a great and wonderful age remain," he said almost wistfully.
"You mean in the form of artefacts?" Jon asked.
Qyburn nodded "Indeed, I've seen such power being wielded from those who have found artefacts and yet I've never seen a person create one, it leads me to believe we simply do not live in an age where it is possible anymore," he explained.
"Perhaps you are right Qyburn, we simply live in uninteresting times," Jon replied.
Qyburn laughed before shaking his head "I wouldn't say that, I mean look at the simply fascinating things that are in the world. One stands before us right at this moment," he stated as he gestured to the labyrinth.
Jon smiled but made no effort to reply and instead kept looking at the writing in front of him, the issue he was having was that there were hardly any records of the language of the Fisher Queens. Not many languages were known in the dawning era, though the easiest and most well-known were Old Tongue and Ancient Yi-Tish which Jon was proficient in speaking. And since he could speak and understand both languages he knew that the writing on the wall had no root in either language 'It's clearly a another dawn-era language that has been lost to time,' Jon thought to himself, this wasn't entirely surprising but it made the situation much more difficult.
"What if..." Jon said aloud catching Qyburn's attention.
"The stories are not just stories, and the Fisher Queens did rule an inland sea that covered most of the Dothraki sea." He continued as he started to pace around in front of the wall.
"And these floating palaces were not palaces but ships..." he theorised.
"Ships?" Qyburn questioned as he looked at Jon's pace in front of him.
Jon turned to him and nodded frantically "Think about it, in the dawn era very few kingdoms would be sea-faring, so to others seeing a ship would've been like seeing a floating palace," he stated.
Qyburn still looked at Jon doubtfully "Even if these theories were correct how does it help us decipher this language?" Qyburn asked.
Jon stopped pacing and out of his satchel he unrolled a map of Essos "The only remnants of the Silver Sea left are the rivers and three Great Lakes," he stated before tracing his finger in a circle "Do you see?" Jon asked as he looked up at Qyburn.
A smile made its way onto his face as Qyburn looked at the map in realisation "If this is right then the Fisher Queens might've ruled everything west of the Bone Mountains," he said in awe.
Jon nodded "Sarnor, Rhoynar and Ghiscar, Three empires that appeared with the fall of the Great Empire of the Dawn and the end of the Long Night," he stated.
Qyburn leaned out of his chair the full realisation hitting him "SARnor, RhoyNAR, GhisCAR." He said to himself.
"The Fisher Queens must be the precursor of all three empires, which means that all three languages must've descended from their language." He finished as he slapped the table.
Qyburn looked awed at Jon "Genius my boy, pure genius." He said before standing up and going back to the wall.
"How is your Ghiscari?" Qyburn asked.
Jon chuckled as he stood next to him "Pretty rusty, not much opportunity to speak it anymore unless you want to talk to the more arrogant Good Masters." He replied.
Qyburn gently chucked "And your Rhoynari?" He asked again.
"Better, though it took a lot to convince the Greenbloods to teach me," he replied.
"If I'm right then we should be able to translate it, it's just a matter of time now," Jon stated.
"I agree, though as this is your discovery I shall refer to your wisdom on whether you wish to share it with the rest of the people our patron has hired," Qyburn said.
Jon snickered but shook his head "It's not hard to see that they have no love of history or old civilisations, they see this as a job and nothing more." He said with a smile, though it slowly left his face as he realised that he wasn't that different. Qyburn continued talking as Jon backed up and sat back in his seat 'How long?' He thought to himself, how long had it been since he'd truly enjoyed doing this sort of thing and not seen it as a chore or a job.
*
"I wish I could've seen home one last time..."
*
Jon let out a self-deprecating chuckle "What is this life of adventure without her..." he whispered to himself.
However, he did appreciate the moment as he looked up and saw Qyburn building on his theories. It was nice to remember why he had started this life in the first place, the joy of discovering new things was something that he loved, or at least used to love.
"It seems the nights not over yet, we should be able to get most of the translation done by morning," Jon said as he stood back up. Though before Qyburn could reply they were both brought out of their thoughts when they heard the sound of what Jon immediately recognised as a War Cry.
"What's going on?!" Qyburn asked with a little concern in his voice.
Jon frowned as he looked over to the camp "Stay here, I'll go and check the camp," he said as he swiftly jogged over to the camp that was a little less than a mile away, however before he even made it halfway he saw a large eruption of fire beyond the camp where the Lorathi fleet was anchored. His nervousness now turned into panic Jon started to sprint back towards the camp with the realisation that they were under attack.
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Joffrey was struggling to get to sleep, he was lying on the cot in the tent that he shared with Jon and kept on shifting on it as he wasn't used to this level of discomfort. Since he left Kings Landing he'd had trouble sleeping, though luckily or unluckily depending on how you saw it Jon had worked him to the point of exhaustion while they travelled. But now that he wasn't physically exhausted he found it much more difficult to sleep.
"This bed is not fit for a squire let alone a king," Joffrey grumbled as he removed the blanket from his body and stood up, he was still wearing his clothing as the night air was quite cold, the breeze from the shivering sea made any warmth he felt from the sun disappear and so at night it was a lot colder. Joffrey stood up and put his boots on before walking over to the table grabbing a pitcher of wine and pouring himself a cup only before he put the cup to his lip did he think he heard something outside.
"Snow?" He called out as he put down his cup and walked towards the entrance of the tent walking through the threshold and out into the camp. It was late at night and the only people awake were the soldiers on guard duty who laughed and joked while drinking cheap wine.
Joffrey looked around not seeing anyone, his gaze drifted to the tent beside his own where the girls slept and he considered checking if they were awake only to remember the threat that Obara had made if he ever tried to enter their tent without their permission.
*I will cut your prick and balls off and feed them to you after breaking your teeth*
Joffrey shuddered slightly as he remembered what she had said, he was about to go back into his tent when he heard a shout echoing throughout the camp. He whipped his head around in the direction of the shout wondering if he had misheard it but he then heard another, and another and another. Before he knew it the sound of the earth shaking and a loud War Cry reverberated through the night.
Then a large flash of light followed by a huge plume of fire originating from the ships anchored off shore 'Hells!' Joffrey thought to himself as he ran back into his tent before strapping on his sword to his belt and running back out of the tent. At this point, others had begun waking up and the tent was now working itself up into a frenzy as soldiers equipped their weapons and armour getting ready for the threat.
Joffrey looked straight down a row of tents finally catching a glimpse of who the night attackers were. Short and squat with large muscles and a protruding forehead it was the Ibbenese that Joffrey had seen back in the palace at Lorath. Multiple Lorathi guards ran in to intercept the Ibbenese men but they were all quickly dealt with as the Ibbenese men impaled them on broad-headed spears.
Joffrey felt fear invade his mind and body as he started to shake, he couldn't move as he watched the foreign men throw torches into the tents setting them alight and coming closer and closer to where he stood. One of the men saw Joffrey and they switched their grip on their spear and held it up before throwing it straight at him, Joffrey just stood there looking at the spear, all he could do was close his eyes and wait for his impending death.
However, it never came and when he opened his eyes he saw his companion Samaya in front of him with the spear gripped in her hand mere inches from his face. With a quick spin, she threw the spear almost twice the speed the man from Ibb had done and it implied him straight in the chest launching him back several feet "You cowards pick up your swords and fight!!!" Samaya shouted at the Lorathi men who were backing up from the Ibbenese men.
Joffrey still stood there dumbly until he was grabbed by the back of his neck "Why are you standing there like a damn simpleton, go and find Jon!" Obara shouted at him before shoving him in the opposite direction. Joffrey wordlessly obeyed as he turned around and started to run, he looked back around momentarily as he watched Obara, Samaya and the Lorathi men engage the Ibbenese forces. He saw Samaya pick up one of the men by the neck before slamming him into another while Obara twirled her spear and sliced through another's thick neck.
Joffrey breathed heavily as he ran through the camp, he could see fires being lit through the entire camp as he walked on the uneven terrain, he saw numerous Lorathi soldiers running in multiple directions both trying to defend the camp and deal with the threat. He turned a corner only to skid to a halt as a battle was occurring here as well, the Lorathi were engaged with the Ibbenese here and were blocking his path. He turned around to try and find another route only to see more Ibbenese men charging towards the Lorathi in this area.
One of the Ibbenese made eye contact with him only this time instead of freezing Joffrey turned on his heel and ran, though he saw that the battle had poured into the way he just came and so he was forced to run towards the battle that was taking place. Joffrey felt his heart beat out of his chest as he saw numerous spears being thrown his way with some only missing him by a few feet, he stepped around and avoided the fighting that was taking place, he had to duck under a sword being swung his way by a Lorathi soldier, he stepped out the way of a spear thrust that ended up going through that same Lorathi soldiers back.
Joffrey ended up falling on his back as he was shoved to the ground by a strong-looking Ibbenese man. Joffrey fiddled with his sheath as he tried to take his sword out, as he did the Ibbenese man simply kicked it out of his hand before unsheathing a bone dagger and grabbing Joffrey by the neck. However before he could kill Joffrey the man was impaled through the head with a sword, blood sprayed all over Joffrey's face, he could even taste it in his mouth.
Joffrey was let go and he fell back on the floor, the now dead Ibbenese man collapsed onto him soaking him in even more blood, Joffrey tried to push the Ibbenese man off himself but as he did another one landed on top and he found he couldn't move.
Joffrey lay there while the battle raged on as blood poured onto his face from the Ibbenese man.
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Jon made it into the camp and saw the large battles that were taking place across the camp, as soon as he saw the Ibbenese men he knew what had happened and he cursed 'How did Qarlon not prepare for this,' he cursed as he ran down a row of tents towards a skirmish that was occurring. He kicked up a sword that was on the ground into his hands as he made contact with the first Ibbenese man, he sidestepped a spear thrust before decapitating the man with his sword, he then spun around parrying another spear thrust upwards before slamming his foot into the Ibbenese man's chest sending him over a dozen feet back.
Jon slashed two more enemies in one swing before throwing his borrowed sword into another's back saving one of the Lorathi soldiers in the process. Picking up one of the enemy spears he threw it with a great amount of force sending it straight through a man's head, he then had to duck as he was nearly hit in the head with a hand axe. He slammed his fist into the attacker's face breaking his nose, though he did draw his hand back in pain 'That's a thick skull!' He said before ripping the hand axe out to their grasp and nearly splitting their head in half with it.
"Rally!" Jon shouted to the Lorathi men as he pivoted around one of the Ibbenese men and grabbed their head before twisting it and snapping their necks. The Lorathi men saw Jon decimating the forces and started to rally around him as they mopped up the Ibbenese forces eventually making them retreat.
Though Jon wasn't content with that and he held his hand out, the Lorathi men looked at Jon in awe as the retreating men were decapitated by an axe that then returned to his hand "Split up! help your brothers! Kill the enemy and force them back into the sea!" Jon shouted as he held up his axe causing the Lorathi men to shout back as they charged through the camp.
Jon ran through the camp coming upon the foreign soldiers like a wrath as he cleaved them in half and bludgeoned their skulls with the blunt side of his axe. Eventually, he met up with Obara and Samaya who were fighting what was probably the biggest force of Ibbenese that was in the camp at the moment "Having fun?" He asked with a grin as he saw Samaya tearing through the Ibbenese forces much more aggressively than he did.
She didn't respond only smiling and going back to fighting, Jon then turned to Obara "Where is Joffrey?" He asked before cutting the arm off a man who tried to strike him.
Obara turned to him with a confused look "Did he not find you? I thought that's why you came?" She stated as she parried a thrust aimed at her chest.
"Shit..." Jon cursed as he started to kill the men with slightly more desperation than before.
Despite the large forces attacking the camp Jon and his companions had managed to turn the tide and were beating back the Ibbenese forces. However, nothing in life is ever so simple and Jon could feel the ground start to shake as he heard the footsteps of what sounded like a giant. He turned around and his eyes widened as he realised that their flank was about to get attacked, running down through the tents was a large force only these weren't Ibbenese men nor Lorathi but Westerosi.
Jon quickly realised who they were as the man charging in front of them was the same one that had attacked him in the tavern in Kings Landing. Quickly realising that their forces were about to be decimated he made the best decision he could think of "Scatter!!!!" He shouted much to the men's confusion.
"Retreat towards the Labyrinth!!!" He shouted again as he cut down another enemy before grabbing Samaya "We need to get to the Labyrinth now, the camp is lost!" He shouted, growling at having to retreat she reluctantly nodded and both Obara and Samaya followed Jon and they ran through the sides of the tents escaping the main battle, the Lorathi men followed suit and scattered but were quickly set upon by the Ibbenese who took advantage of their weakness.
"Where are you going, bastard!"
Jon had to quickly lift his axe as he blocked a ball of fire that nearly hit him in the face. He was knocked off his feat though he rolled with it and was quickly back up as he looked at who attacked him.
Stood in front of him was a woman he hadn't seen before, she had fiery orange eyes and short black hair, an amber amulet pulsated on her chest and fire danced between her hands 'She must be the one...' he thought to himself, the person he was referring to was the woman who had sent the large ball of fire crashing down towards him when they were ambushed at sea.
"I'd ask you to surrender... but I don't want you to." She said with a malicious smile.
Standing at either side of her were two men Jon recognised, one was the large man who had attacked him in Kings Landing and the other could only be the one he had thought of on the field of ice before the woman had destroyed it, though he seemed like he was still very injured as most of his body was covered in bandages that were already soaking through with blood "What is it you people want with me." He asked in a serious voice as he gripped the handle of his axe. Both Samaya and Obara readied themselves as well preparing for a fight that could start at any moment.
"You killed our father." The giant man growled out almost immediately.
Jon raised an eyebrow but before he could say anything the girl in the centre let out a rough laugh "You'll have to excuse my younger brother, he's never been much of a talker, lacks tact you see." She said with a smile on her face.
"But he is right you did kill our father, he was quite an important man... the most important man in the Seven Kingdoms one might say," she said with her grin still present.
Jon's eyes widened in realisation before he snickered and shook his head "You're all his bastards?" He asked.
"That's right, and we've come to bring you to justice," she replied in a humorous way, almost as if she didn't believe her own words.
"Your father was a poor king and an even worse person you should be glad you never knew him." Jon staged much to their displeasure, apart from the girl, she just gave him a look of indifference before holding up her hand and summoning a sphere of fire.
"Get him..." she simply said.
Gendry charged towards Jon with his Warhammer in hand though he was quickly intercepted by Samaya who managed to tackle him to the ground. As they fought Edric swung his sword at Jon sending a slash of fire at him, Jon sidestepped it before freezing the air and around them and making it harder for Edric to keep his sword alight "You're not very talkative, last time I couldn't get you to stop," Jon said as he blocked a swing from his blade.
"Don't mind my little brother, his throat was severely damaged and so he can no longer speak, a shame really as that was very much his only talent," Mya stated as she stood still.
At this point Obara got involved and distracted Edric, while she had no supernatural abilities of her own Edric's injuries allowed her to stay one step ahead of him while they fought.
This only left Mya and Jon who stood in front of each other tension thick in the air. This didn't last long however as Jon threw his axe directly at Mya who leaned out of the way, Jon lunged at Mya throwing a punch at her which she quickly avoided again before sending one of her own at him that was infused with intense flames. The punch connected with Jon's face sending him reeling a bit though he was more concerned about the face that it hurt, the fire had hurt him, he'd never experienced that before.
However, Jon quickly shook it off before summoning his axe back to his hand and slashing down at Mya forcing her to jump back the moment the axe made contact with the ground spikes made of ice shot out of it rushing towards Mya.
An explosion of flames erupted from her body instantly melting his ice and sending Jon rolling backwards across the ground, slamming his axe down to halt his momentum he got back up only to jump to the side and avoid a torrent of flames being shot his way, he didn't know what was different about these flames or why they hurt him when others did not. Jon started to lower the temperature again trying to weaken Mya but it was a struggle as she kept on burning hotter and hotter.
He had to settle on making his axe colder as he slashed at her managing to cut through the flames and cut a line down her body. Though he was amazed to see the wound instantly cauterise itself as if it never happened.
Mya burst forward using the flames to make her faster and slammed her feet into Jon making him splutter as he was sent over a dozen feet back. Jon slammed his axe into the ground creating a large wall of ice that he quickly manipulated into two hands that shot after Mya. She focused her intense heat on the first hand melting it as it came towards her but was caught off guard by the second one slamming into her side and ending her skidding across the ground. As she got up she spat a glob of blood on the floor though it evaporated before it even got close to making it.
Mya scowled as she looked at Jon and quickly looked towards Gendry who was having trouble finishing off Samaya as she relentlessly attacked him despite being injured. She then looked to Edric who had managed to cut Obara's spear in half and was close to finishing her off.
Jon saw this as well though when he made a move to try and help Obara a well of flames erupted in his path and he was forced to defend himself again "Samaya help Obara and get to the Labyrinth!" He shouted over the sounds of battle.
Samaya ducked underneath a swing from a Warhammer and slammed her foot into Gendry sending him back, she then rushed and went to help Obara.
Mya smirked, she didn't care about these women her target was Jon and now she had the advantage "Gendry let's go!" She shouted as she started firing large amounts of fire towards Jon.
Jon avoided them or blocked them with his axe though when he sidestepped one he stepped into the oath of Gendry who slammed his Warhammer straight into his side. Jon felt the ribs on his left side crack or break before he was thrown across the ground and into a tent. Before he could even stand up the tent was set on fire as Mya stepped inside her form still engulfed in fire.
Jon pushed himself up before rolling to the side and avoiding another scorching beam of fire, he then tried to generate some ice to defend himself with but the inside of the tent was too hot and dry so he threw his axe at Mya as he ran towards her. She dodged the axe but wasn't able to dodge Jon who barged into her sending her out of the tent.
Though Gendry was quick to come to her defence swinging his deadly Warhammer once again luckily Jon managed to dodge this one and kicked Gendry back. Jon was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe most likely due to the fire and ribs but he kept punching Gendry's back before he yelled out in pain as a ball of fire was shot straight at his back.
Jon jumped back while holding out his hand and calling his axe back to him 'Time to get out of here,' he thought to himself as he stood in front of the two bastards now three as Edric had joined them. Jon was glad as it meant that Samaya and Obara had escaped and were heading towards the Labyrinth.
'I've never used this move before,' Jon thought to himself as he started spinning his axe in his hands. The three in front of him all tensed as they readied for an attack of some kind. Jon eventually let go of the axe as it started spinning faster and faster while getting colder and colder, eventually, it started to affect the wind as the air that was now freezing started spinning around creating a vortex around the three bastards 'Is he making a blizzard!' Mya thought to herself as she struggled to maintain her form after prolonged use as well as this blizzard though she had to unless she wanted them all to freeze solid.
Tents were blown into the sky and the ground started to ice over as the blizzard started to grow in size. While this was happening Jon ran away to the labyrinth as fast as he could, while he was practically immune to the cold now he didn't want to test it, he had thought he was immune to fire as well but the burn marks all over his body told him differently.
Jon made it to the Labyrinth where a good number of Lorathi men were still
Pouring inside, not seeing Samaya or Obara he could only hope they went inside and he quickly ran into the Labyrinth.
(AN: Now they are in the Labyrinth finally, I wonder what has the Ibbenese so scared they'd attack and risk a war with Lorath just to stop them from going inside the maze. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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