Chapter 36: Schemes
The corridors of the red keep are always so quiet and empty, only the sounds of passing maids and wetnurses could be heard in the morning, ready to help Princess Elia to take care of her babes. But that silence quickly broke as a maid entered Princess Elia's room, where, at first, she was confused, because the room is empty, there are no signs of life whatsoever, no crying sounds, no footsteps sounds, nothing.
There's nothing in the room that signifies that something had happened to the princess and her dragons, though, the maid noticed that the window had been opened, and the wind was making the curtains move sporadically.
"Princess?" the maid called softly. There was no answer.
Because of the lack of response, the maid quickly put her belongings on the table and walked towards the window, intending to close it and stop the wind from coming inside the room. But when she was about to do it, she saw a horrifying sight beneath the red keep, between the sands, a body, laying lifeless, slowly being pushed and pulled by the waves.
In less than a second, the maid put the pieces of the puzzles in her mind, and her face paled instantly. She produced a horrifying shriek that made the kingsguard outside hurriedly enter.
"What is the meaning of this?" said the kingsguard, ser Barristan Selmy.
"M-My lord… T-The Princess—" the maid stuttered as she tried to form a coherent sentence, her hands shaking, her legs almost gave up.
"Speak clearly." The other kingsguard, Prince Lewyn Martell, spoke sternly to the maid. "Where is the princess?"
The maid didn't say anything, with her shaking hand, she pointed at the window beside her, and finally dropped to the ground, still couldn't believe what she had seen.
Ser Barristan Selmy and Prince Lewyn Martell looked at each other, confused on what she's implicating, so they went towards the window, and examined it.
At first, Ser Barristan didn't find anything. But then, Prince Lewyn Martell suddenly tapped Ser Barristan's shoulder, and pointed at the beach below the keep.
"Gods be good…" Ser Barristan murmured darkly. He turned towards his brother-in-arm, intending to see his expression.
Prince Lewyn had a stoic face, with a pinch of sadness in his eyes.
—
The Mad King was sitting on his Iron Throne as the hand of the king, Qarlton Chelsted, was screaming at the kingsguard, his face red like Dornish Pepper.
The two kingsguard could only knelt in front of the king, swallowing the insults and spit of the hand.
"Have you confirmed the body?" said the king, cutting off his hand's words.
"Y-Your grace?" the hand stuttered.
"I said, have you confirmed the body?!" the mad king shrieked. "Who knows if this is some kind of Dornish trickery! I will not be fooled by those southerners!"
"W-We have not checked the body y-your grace…"
"Then what are you waiting for?!" the king screamed once again. "I will burn you and your family if you cannot do such basic investigations!"
"By your will, your grace." Ser Barristan spoke.
The hand nodded, before walking away with Ser Barristan, leaving Prince Lewyn alone.
"Wait." the king spoke again, making the two men stop. "Bring Lewyn too. Surely he knows the face of his own niece."
Lewyn clenched his fist tightly, before nodding. "As you command, my king."
—
The two Kingsguards are now walking through the beach of Kings Landing along with a couple of guards to accompany them. The hand didn't follow them, and instead waited for the news in the keep.
"Sers, we've searched around the beaches, but we only found small clothes floating on the sea." said one of the guards.
"No bodies then?" Ser Barristan asked.
"None so far Sers." answered the guards calmly.
Ser Barristan only hummed, then he turned to Lewyn. "What do you think?"
Lewyn was quiet for a second, before answering. "I have no thoughts on this."
"You don't?" Ser Barristan frowned at the answer.
"She's been through enough." said Lewyn simply, and it shut Ser Barristan up.
A couple minutes later, they arrived at the scene. The body was untouched, the smell of blood was still strong, and a couple of guards were surrounding it, making sure that no one touched it. Ser Barristan quickly knelt beside the corpse, sweeping away the hair of the corpse to take a good look at the face, but it was of no use.
"Good gods…" Ser Barristan murmured darkly.
"Confirm it?" asked Lewyn, not looking directly at the corpse, instead, he was watching the sea.
Sir Barristan only shook his head. "Her face is crushed from the fall, all bones shattered, I cannot identify her."
Lewyn closed his eyes, he took a deep breath and released it. "Let me have a look."
Prince Lewyn quickly knelt and examined the face of the corpse. Lewyn's breath hitched as he saw the damage from the fall. It was almost unrecognisable, so Lewyn turned to other spots. He looked at her neck, and searched for a familiar sign.
"It's her." Lewyn said calmly, his face a bit shaken.
"How do you know?" said Ser Barristan. "Forgive me, Prince Lewyn, but right now, you are under suspicion of treason in the king's eyes."
"I understand." Lewyn nodded. He then pointed at a dot at the side of the corpse's neck. "A birthmark Ser, you should be able to confirm it with the maids of Elia."
Ser Barristan nodded, and turned to the guards. "What of the babes?"
The guards shook his head. "We haven't found anything yet ser." he said. "A high chance of them being swallowed by the sea."
"Keep looking then," said Ser Barristan. "Assign the gold cloaks, use boats to scour along the coast."
"Understood." the guard nodded, and walked away to do the task, leaving Barristan and Lewyn alone.
Now only the two kingsguard and the corpse are on the beach.
"Be honest with me Prince Lewyn," Ser Barristan said to Lewyn. "Do you have any hand in this?"
"Are we the Dornish so low in your eyes that we are willing to kill our own kin, ser Barristan?" Lewyn countered back.
"I am not saying that you killed the Princess, Prince Lewyn. I'm asking if this is a Dornish scheme, and that body is not Princess Elia."
Lewyn sighed deeply as he stood back up, enjoying the cold breeze of the sea. "I wish that it is the case Ser Barristan, but it is not."
—
Prince Lewyn was now sitting on his bed in his room in the Kingsguard headquarters. He had already taken off his armour and helmet, and he put his sword beside his bed for emergency purposes.
The red keep is in chaos as Elia's body has been confirmed and the death of the two Targaryen Prince and Princess. The hand proposed that they will keep quiet about it, in case that it is truly a suicide rather than some kind of scheme, the king was fuming, and each of every Elia's maid is being burned one by one, on the crime of failing to prevent the heir's death.
Meanwhile, Lewyn was just waiting for his time to come, whether the king will keep him as his only hostage now, or simply kill him out of rage.
Lewyn's thought was quickly broken as he heard a movement sound from the window, but he didn't grab his sword, instead, he sat still, relaxing his body.
"Are they safe?" Lewyn asked calmly.
"They are on their way to Sunspear now, my prince." said an androgynous voice from the window. "I suggest that you come with us now, the king could demand your head anytime he wants."
Lewyn didn't say anything, instead, he looked at his armour in the corner of the room. "No, I will stay."
"Prince Morian insists that—"
"I have an oath to fulfil," he said. "I will try to distract the king as long as possible here, but that is all I can do."
"My prince, Ser Arthur Dayne has defected, Princess Elia and her children are safe, you are more useful in Sunspear rather than here."
"Arthur has defected?" Lewyn raised his eyebrow. "Which means— what has happened to Rhaegar?"
"A captive in Sunspear." the androgynous voice answered calmly.
Lewyn sighed. "My nephews are truly vipers…" he stared at his armour, and clenched his fist. "Very well, it seems that I am more useful in Sunspear rather than here if you have Rhaegar."
After that, in the darkness of the night, Prince Lewyn disappeared from his quarters, never to be seen in the place again.
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