Chapter 50

(Erlend Mudd, Firmridge)

"Did you get anything from the mystery knight?" Erlend asked his spymaster.

"Yes, your Majesty. The man is of minor stock and is said to have had a lot of dealings with the eastern continent. Our men managed to get something far more useful out of him though."

Erlend motioned for the Feld to continue, curious about what exactly they managed to uncover from the fool.

"First and foremost, the ones that hired him did not offer any names… but what was odd is that he swears that he barely managed to catch a glimpse of pale skin and pale blue lips under their hooded robes."

"Warlocks? So some of them managed to escape huh." Erlend looked unamused, those bastards had foolishly decided to test his patience once more, and so soon after their last disastrous attempt.

"Potentially… Though we cannot put off the possibility that someone might be impersonating them."

"Another thing that was interesting, is that he seems to hold a particular grudge against those with Arryn blood, apparently having been cheated by the Gulltown Falcons."

"Neither my Uncle nor Oberyn have Arryn blood in them." Erlend looked incredulously at his trusted spymaster.

"The thought of causing pain to someone close to one was enough for him." Was the dry response.

What kind of stupid reasoning was that, Erlend was pretty sure those Gulltown pigeons detested his existence.

If it was the Warlocks, then he already had a grudge against them. Those fuckers sought to kidnap his newborn son, Jasper, to threaten him. Unfortunately for them, his shadows and imprints had long since gotten wind of the plot.

With his dragons, he destroyed their precious 'House of Undying' after they attempted to threaten his blood. For weeks on end, Qarth burned for their transgressions, and whatever rats that somehow managed to avoid him and had made the mistake of foolishly acting against him.

This wasn't a fucking anime where he just let them go after beating them up. No… his imprints had been hunting down these pale fucks ever since, slaughtering them without mercy. It was one thing to avoid humans they suspected were his spies, but unfortunately for them when the animals around you could be utilized against you, there were very few places one could hide.

As for the fool, he'd have his family wiped out for this stupidity, no reason to keep such stupidity around, lest it begin to spread.

More importantly, how exactly did the remnants of the Warlocks manage to scrounge up enough power to hide an assassin from his gaze? There had to be a deity involved in helping them out, but which one?

R'hllor, the Seven and the old Gods were all out, for one reason or another, none of them wanted to make a move against him just yet. Their powers and actions were largely too reliant on their followers and far too obvious for him to miss them.

Maybe the fire demon might've tried something like this, but Melisandre would have warned almost immediately. A great weakness that particular deity held was that its 'closest' followers tended to get alerted of any move it might make in the mortal plane.

That left only two gods at the moment who were likely to hold enmity with him, the so-called 'Great Stallion' and the 'Drowned God'. Both had a bone to pick on him and both lost an immense amount of followers due to his actions, either directly or indirectly.

While they were said to be slumbering at the moment, that likely changed with the hatching of his children.

"Keep an eye out on the 'changed' ironmen that are present in the fortress. If they do anything remotely suspicious, subdue and capture them immediately. Also, I want any shadow located close to Vaes Dothrak to be prepared to make their escape immediately, they might have been made."

"Yes, your Majesty." Feld bowed his head, before promptly leaving the solar to carry out his orders.

His genocide of the Dothraki over the years might have enraged the usually dormant god into finally taking action. If so, then his subordinates' lack of faith would ensure that they would face the stallion's wrath.

The ritual done to hide Melisandre's true allegiance could not be easily replicated on a mass scale, hence only a few of his most trusted spies were actually able to hide their true thoughts from the gods they 'worshiped'.

Previously, there was no reason to have his spies placed in the Dothraki and Drowned god's territories go through the ritual, now it might bite him in the ass.

Erlend could already feel a headache coming. Shit would be so much easier if these so-called deities didn't hide in their personal 'heavens' or dimensions if he was to be more accurate.

He was not foolish enough to attack them on their home turf, that was just asking for trouble, one only needed to know of the end of the Valyrian gods to understand that. 

Their fate after the doom wasn't a pretty one, as it saw the rest of the pantheons uniting and slaughtering them in their own home dimension. 

Though that was not without its cost, while the pantheons succeeded in destroying the Valyrian deities in their dimension, it left them so weak that in the following century, most deities lacked the power to interfere in the mortal plane and thus left Essos in chaos, hence the century of blood.

This ironically made little difference in Westeros, as by then, the influence of both the old and new gods had already waned within it.

Actually… This sounded far too convenient to be a coincidence. Why was it that most of the deities managed to lose their influence at a similar time? Hell, it coincided with the weakening of magic too.

…

Motivated by this newest clue, In the next few hours, Erlend found himself picking through tomes, seeking to confirm his hypothesis. Page after page was turned as he skimmed through several historical texts to check. 

Over that time, each of his lovers would come and check on him, making sure he was alright and that nothing was wrong. Several tomes flew out of the bookshelf as he summoned them towards him, many placing themselves back in place once he was done with them.

It frustrated Erlend how this detail had managed to escape him before, he had a niggling suspicion that whatever this was, was connected with the Blackstone. Perhaps there is a hidden hand in all of this?

The originator of this stone had to be part of the supernatural world, otherwise, why would it be able to block magic so well?

So hours passed as Erlend was sent into a flurry of research. 

Soon his lover Malora joined him, both of them looking for that missing detail that could pave the way to the right answer.

…

Mentally exhausted, Erlend lay his head on his table while Malora was already fast asleep in her chair. Hours had passed since he'd been first clued into a potential breakthrough on what had been bothering him since the Blackstone incident.

This was important enough that he put off much of his paperwork in order to get to the bottom of it.

Despite their best efforts, it seemed that there were no records of such an event occurring before that or at least no justifiable evidence. Meaning there was likely something there, he just didn't have the right pieces to the puzzle.

The closest he and Malora could get was that this was in some way connected to the Great Empire of the Dawn, how it began and how it ended, but the problem with that theory is that unlike after the doom, magic was still going strong then, the Long Night being proof of that.

So maybe it had to do with the age before the Empire.

One couldn't also forget the infamous Five Forts, yes he can see the irony in that… Which were built at the least centuries and quite possibly thousands of years before the Wall and long before the 'Others' became known as a threat to humanity.

It all depended on the actual lifespan of the Emperors, since there was nothing truly concrete on that piece of history. As for why he suspected connections with the Empire, it was mainly due to the fact that the Pearl and Bloodstone Emperor had both dealt with Blackstone in their lifetimes.

Blackstone which was rumored to negate magic much like the throne he threw into his workshop.

Malora had also explained that the Hightower's interest in the Five Forts stemmed from the similarity between the forts and the labyrinthine square fortress that lay as the foundation of the Hightower.

Then again what reason did they have not to research the Empire of the Dawn? That was something that historians had been obsessed about since time immemorial.

It helped that many rulers would sponsor research on the topic if only to find clues that could help them achieve the same supposed long life of the Emperors of the Dawn.

Immortality or at least an extended lifespan could be quite appealing.

Putting his focus on less troublesome matters, Erlend's existence and that of his dragons strengthened magic once more, that he could confirm at least. In turn, it gave the deities that were still active much more room to maneuver when it came to interacting with the mortal plane, as well as awakening some of the inactive ones.

Erlend felt like banging his head on the table, on one hand, his magic meant he was nigh untouchable when fully prepared. On the other hand, it somewhat strengthened beings he did not feel happy giving that free boost to.

Another question on his mind was if the Great Other played a part in helping the Night King open a way to travel to other worlds and universes. If so, then what the hell were the other deities doing letting it happen? That was tantamount to just giving up and becoming docile pets to their supposed enemy.

"Or is there a greater being out there that we don't know of?" Erlend murmured to himself. He couldn't help but wish that the old man had given more information.

It wouldn't be too strange to assume such a thing and it wasn't out of the question to assume that knowledge of such an existence was either lost or intentionally destroyed. Fucking hell, and here he thought he'd only have to deal with the damn Night King.

This world was no longer George's sandbox, it had to fill the lore gap somehow, likely doing it in the worst way possible.

At least for him anyway.

…

(Ashara Dayne)

She felt different, too different if she had to be honest.

Ever since that night with the bastard, her body felt stronger, and for a woman who did her best to keep herself in shape, the change was too obvious not to notice.

That fucker did something to her, or at least sleeping with him did. While his eyes did not betray his true thoughts, her instincts told her something fishy was going on. She felt connected to him in a way that screamed bullshit. Though what type of bullshit, she had no clue.

The good news was her brother was going to be free soon, the bad news being he'd have to teach the Crown Prince and act as a bodyguard for the brat, at least till Erlend deemed him trustworthy enough to return to Starfall.

She managed to convince Erlend to let Arthur teach Edric as well, giving her brother some time to interact with their elder brother's only child.

Watching her nephew mess about with the royal children soothed some of her fears. If nothing else, the man held very little ill will to her family, although granted most of the conflict between them originated from her side.

Not that she'd ever admit it, he should shoulder some blame after benefiting so much from this whole mess, it was only right.

Now she would just watch the interesting situation unfold in front of her.

"Ed, step away from the brat or else." Dany scowled at the prince.

Edmund, somewhat intimidated by what he considered his big sister, stood his ground refusing to give way and choosing to protect his newest friend. "No Dany, he's innocent I swear!"

"I literally saw him throw the damn thing at me." Her tone was as dry as the sands of her homeland.

"Bah, don't be so uptight cousin, it was just a bit of flowers." Steffon chose to intercede on behalf of his friends.

Ashara would be pleased if not for the fact that he was the one who dared Edric to do it in the first place. Only Jon tried to dissuade the brats, the boy was likely scared of both the dragon princesses and their reactions.

"You know, we should do something more interesting. Like spar…" Suggested Obara, not giving a damn about the tense situation in front of her.

"They're still brats, sister, what kind of experience would sparring with them give you?" Nymeria jested. 

"You know we can all hear you right?" Rhaenys stared at her cousins with annoyance.

This sent the sand snakes into a fit of giggles, successfully diverting the royal children's focus towards themselves. She watched amusedly as the so-called Sand Snakes found themselves surrounded by the unhappy royal brats, except Jasper, who was with his father and mother.

He was cute enough, she supposed, though she was confident that a child between her and that bastard would beat any of his current children.

Hmm… Well, this ought to be interesting.

Oberyn and Ellaria were still to be seen since the end of the tourney, the lustful duo had been at it for days on end and had the audacity to drag Oberyn's squire and even Elia's handmaiden into it. 

Much to the chagrin of her best friend, since technically Oberyn did keep his promise. Ironically making it so that she wanted to grab Erlend and drag him to her chambers and show those smug fuckers the middle finger.

Seven knows the two of them had been at it for hours on end since the first night together and only stopped because of that bitch Lyanna claiming it was her turn or something.

Turn, bah… these deviants had fucking schedules apparently, or more likely the She-wolf was just feeling inadequate compared to her, so she decided to interrupt her time with Erlend like a bitch in heat.

'Yes… that was far more likely' Ashara nodded to herself as she watched a brawl start right in front of her. She was definitely not going to thank the she-wolf.

Eh, she'll stop this fight eventually. 

Daenerys did look like she needed to punch someone and this seemed like the perfect way for the little girl to vent.

…

"You could've stopped them at least." Said Elia with a bit of heat in her voice.

"Come off it Elia, you know the best way for boys to become friends is to have a friendly brawl." Was her retort, earning her an eye roll from her best friend.

While they did patch things up due to Erlend's insistence, there was still some tension between them. Not helped by the fact that she slept and still intended to continue sleeping with Erlend.

You'd think her best friend would be mad at her for sleeping with her lover, but no she was mad about the fact that Ashara did it without first consulting her. Honestly, what kind of degeneracy had she thrown herself into?

Catelyn did not seem to mind the two of them as she helped patch up the kids, who had the sense to remain silent after their brawl was broken up by the mothers.

"Also I'm pretty sure Rhae and the rest aren't boys." Elia pointed out.

"They hit like one though." Muttered Steffon a bit too loudly, getting a smack in the head from his not-so-pleased mother and a glare from said princess.

"Honestly Steff, what possessed you to do something so reckless." Jeyne admonished the unruly Durrandon, clearly worried about Erlend's reaction.

Though if Catelyn's calm mood was of any indication, the bastard would probably laugh it off as kids being kids. For all his claims to being more mature than his Uncle, Erlend could be very childish, she noted.

He appeared to be a more intelligent Robert if she had to compare him to someone. The two would definitely have hit it off, and likely punched Rhaegar in the face too.

"You know I feel like they're getting along better with each other." Catelyn finally spoke, easing her newest friend into the chaos she was used to dealing with.

"Cat, they've literally just beaten the snot out of each other," Elia said.

"No harm done, at least they know the girls aren't pushovers now." The Tully Queen said jokingly.

"That's one way to put it and I'm sure they already knew that."

"It was fun though." Edric helpfully added, getting nods of agreement from the rest of the kids. Surprisingly, even the Sand Snakes didn't look like they minded the bite marks on their arms.

Saera was a very vicious girl when angered, how the hell she managed to get involved when she originally was on the other side of this fortress with her mother was a mystery to Ashara. 

Maybe it was that Stark blood that alerted her to it, they were an unruly lot.

"I would rather your fun not be beating the snot out of each other." Elia sighed.

…

(Erlend Mudd)

If anyone saw him at this moment they would definitely be questioning their sanity.

Holding Jasper in his arms, Erlend was making funny faces to elicit reactions from his youngest child.

The boy merely stared in both confusion and fascination at his father's ridiculous expressions, though occasionally letting out gurgles of laughter when he found an expression particularly amusing.

It was therapeutic in a way for Erlend to just let go and have fun, feeling like you're standing on pins and needles all the time tends to get numbing quite fast. So, enjoying his time with his kids was a pleasant way to let go of it all.

Lysa and Malora sat on the couch adjacent, discussing some topic or the others, occasionally stealing fond glances at the father and son duo.

Hectic was the best way to describe these past few days, from the stress brought on by the Tourney to the headaches of ensuring none of the guests caused any problems. It could be said that these past few weeks had been the most troublesome days the fortress had experienced since his crowning.

The newest mystery did not help the slightest bit. If Lysa hadn't forced him and Malora to take a break, they'd still be stressing over tomes right now.

Keeping the quarrelsome petty rivalries from flaming up certainly added to it. Fuckers were invited to stay a bit longer because he had one more important matter to go through with his vassals.

"He does take a lot after Lady Aemma," Malora spoke softly, not wanting to interrupt the duo's fun.

"Erlend or Jasper?" Lysa asked.

"Both, though Jasper mainly. He does have her eyes after all."

"If we go by the words of the Vale lords then that certainly rings true." Lysa hummed while peering at her child, she wanted to insist that her son had her eyes, but those lot seemed to unanimously agree that he had his grandmother's eyes instead.

Those lot tended to praise the ground Jasper walked on, preparing themselves for when he eventually rose to power, though whether he'd remember them or not was left unsaid. The boy was hardly a year old.

Erlend barely kept track of their conversation, more focused on his youngest, though their words did remind him of a particularly troublesome weasel.

"Has Baelish been bothering you again? Last I checked the rat had been petitioning any major lord he could find to support his ventures."

"He's tried, the fool just doesn't understand how out of his depth he truly is."

Malora shook her head at the ambitious petty lord, even now after all he's done, the slimy weasel was still trying to get close to Catelyn or Lysa. "Yohn looked ready to strangle the fool, he's going to run out of excuses soon enough."

"I'll drink to that." Lysa giggled at the thought of a furious Yohn, attracting Jasper's attention.

The boy just realized that his mother was present beside them, and squirming to her side. Eventually, Erlend let the boy onto his mother's lap and sat beside Malora.

"Baelish is already done for, the fool simply doesn't know it yet," Erlend stated boredly.

Baelish was playing a dangerous game, one he couldn't afford, considering the noose that was already tied to his neck.

The Crown was fully aware of his part in inciting the mountain clans on behalf of Varys, Erlend having permanently placed several imprints nearby to report to him should he make any move.

Gathering evidence was a piece of cake really.

Humans were obvious, but no one suspected the wildlife that was so abundant. There was a reason Bloodraven had been so successful in manipulating the realm to do his bidding after all.

As for why they have yet to imprison him, well he made it remarkably easy to keep track of Varys movements within Westeros, due to his success in inciting the clans. Varys now considered the little weasel his main tool on the continent.

A shame really, if he'd just picked anyone else, perhaps he might have been able to hide some of his movements from them.

Erlend would feel pity for the eunuch, but he wasn't feeling generous enough to do so, eventually, when he did choose to end the worm's life, he might clue him in on just how compromised his precious network was.

That was without mentioning the fact his own sister was already on Erlend's side.

"So… I see you're quite free right now." Interrupting his thoughts was a seductive tilt to Malora's usually cheerful if a bit spacy tone.

Erlend simply smiled, before promptly taking his studious lover into his arms. "Your words do have some truth to them, don't they my love." His husky voice brushed past her ears.

He proceeded to gently bite her earlobes and elicited a moan out of her.

"Darling, please. Jasper is right here." Said Lysa while looking vexed with them, cutting right as they were getting into it.

The duo had the decency to look ashamed, before bolting out of the chamber to continue elsewhere, much to the annoyance of Lysa who was stuck with her son.

"Lucky Bitch." She muttered, her voice too low for her son to hear. She'd blame Oberyn if Jasper somehow picked it up, no one would believe the Prince anyway.