Chapter 53

(Varys, Undisclosed)

"Are you sure this is true?" He questioned.

Baelish looked around carefully, before explaining "As sure as can be. Reportedly, Mudd has had enough of Essos interfering in Westeros and intends to make a move soon enough. At best you can expect him to block trade and at worst… War."

"He lacks the evidence needed to justify such a response." Varys was more than skeptical about the latest piece of information.

While the Mudd King was in a strong position, Varys was sure any decisive campaign focused on the East could very well tilt the balance of power against him.

"Many of the lords have long regarded the magisters and merchant princes as leeches, I can't really see any other target the man may have."

"Your thoughts are far too narrow minded Baelish, he could easily be referring to the Lannisters, Tyrells, or any other major player whose loyalty can be regarded as questionable. You already confirmed his actions against the lions when he took Cersei as a ward."

His spy didn't seem all that confident in his words, but Varys was sure that Mudd had no intention of moving forward towards Essos any time soon. Yes, his throne was secure for the time being, but that could easily be changed if he turned his focus upon the eastern continent.

No, it was far better for him to sit still and accumulate more power while dealing with more direct threats.

"There's another thing you might find interesting, all those supplies and equipment that the King had ordered periodically in the past few years weren't for the Banners as we initially assumed."

"Oh?" Varys raised an eyebrow at that. He was well aware of these orders but paid them little heed, it was natural for the King to expand his personal army.

It was common sense to build up your core powerbase after all.

"My men managed to uncover their true destination, they have been heading towards the Wall of all places."

"So he's like the Starks then."

"Not exactly… After uncovering their destination, I managed to scrape some information from up north, and it appears that the King has gone farther than anyone expected, even stationing a few contingents beyond the wall with the help of the Watch."

"He's also been subtly discouraging sending prisoners to take the black, relying more on volunteers and even relaxing the rules that forbid brothers taking significant others. It hasn't reached the point of allowing outright marriage, but no one seems to care if they take lovers these days."

Varys frowned at that, he had no idea what could possibly interest the Monarch in the lands beyond the wall. There was hardly anything of worth up there, at least nothing worth waging a grueling campaign for.

"Are you sure about this news?"

"I questioned a few of the merchants that sailed up to Eastwatch, they all swore that the King had definitely been active there." Baelish asserted.

"I can't see the Starks and the other northern Houses simply accepting such a change, those stubborn fools like change less than even the faith."

"They seem to be grudgingly approving it, especially now that the number of wildlings sneaking past the wall has greatly decreased. They also need these changes to better develop the Gift if I may add, constant wildling raids would render any attempt to develop it mute."

Varys wasn't exactly happy with this, he'd paid little attention to the North, due to how isolationist it tended to be, and then there was also the fact it was much harder to sneak his little birds into key holds without arousing suspicion.

Now he was being told that there was something significant up those desolate lands and he had little idea of it. It felt infuriating to the eunuch.

Thankfully he kept his face straight throughout the conversation, no reason to give Baelish any satisfaction. This man was far more dangerous than he seemed, and Varys would never leave his guard down around him.

It was unfortunate that necessity meant he had to rely on him.

After a few moments, "Find out what exactly the King intends to do beyond the wall." Varys ordered the minor lord. 

If Erlend planned to expand northward then that might provide the opening Aegon needed, even better if he perished there like the Starks of old.

There was a callow twitch on the man's face, but he nodded towards the eunuch, acknowledging the order. Varys, well aware of Baelish's movements, ignored it, knowing that the man took slight to even the smallest insult.

'Some people are too prideful for their own good.'

…

(???, Undisclosed)

"We can't remain passive too long, something has to be done about those upstarts." One of them said harshly, distaste lacing his tone at the mention of those rats.

"What would you have us do? Those fools have managed to contract the Company and there's no Banners present to counter them."

"Bah… I knew that young fool was far too ambitious." Another complained.

"Watch your tongue, he may be young, but he's proven himself to be no fool."

"Bah… just another ambitious lordling, his wings will be clipped sooner rather than later."

"Matagon promised us that he'd put a stop to the foolishness of those sons of dogs, Where is he now?" Not wanting his fellows to continue that particular thought, another interrupted their conversation.

"Dead, alongside ten thousand slave soldiers, the Blackfyre bitch didn't spare a single man." The tallest of them all spoke.

Silence followed the man's words, as many of those present slowly backed away from him, for fear that they would be seen as agreeing with him. In their minds, it seemed this man had a death wish, insulting two figures that had dominated the continent for far longer than he'd been in power.

The tall man noticed their fear and sneered at their actions in contempt, "You fear her like rats scurrying away from a cat, she is nothing but a whore who does not know her place."

The oldest of them shook his head at the tall man's folly, did he not realize that even the walls had ears here? "There's bravery and then their is blind arrogance, she's nothing like your bed slaves, boy. You best watch your tongue."

"Ha, just another coward, we are of the old blood, how dare a bastard's descendent look down on us." His words caused many around him to gasp at his audacity.

The old man did not reply, this arrogant youngling would soon understand his mistake. Motioning for the others to continue the discussion, he looked at the boy with pity.

Looking satisfied with the older man's silence, the tall man went back to molesting his bed slave next to him, uncaring of the discussion happening around him, or the growing distance between him and the others. Pleased at the supposed victory.

As for the old man, the former Triarch couldn't help but shake his head, such a promising candidate was now doomed to a fate worse than death. There was a reason not many dared to utter even words against those two, and this brash brat decided to insult both one after the other.

In his opinion this discussion was useless, the silent war between Volantis and the three daughters wasn't going anywhere, not until one of the other free cities made a move. He suspected something far more sinister was abound, otherwise why wouldn't the Company march against the first daughter?

Someone was playing both sides, he just hoped that his beloved city would come out of it unscathed. Running through their veins was the pure blood of Valyria itself, surely the gods would not watch them fall.

Still, he felt a dark premonition, leaving him restless and tense.

…

(???, Undisclosed)

In a reasonably sizable room, sat a group of very worried and influential individuals.

Recently the Iron Bank had been making a lot of noise, especially against those that happened to be part of this group. The once silent bank seemed to have had enough of their actions and was beginning to target them much to their displeasure.

"Someone explain to me why exactly the Iron Bank has decided to finally make a move, didn't you all promise to keep them in check?" The head for once looked furious, his usually calm persona broken over the stress that had been piling on him recently.

Many of his assets had been slowly raided or disappeared without a trace these past few months. The only culprit he suspected could achieve such a feat had to be the Bank, otherwise no one else would be able to target him so meticulously.

One of the members nervously explained, "Someone has been sending the Keyholders information regarding the corruption plaguing the institution. For whatever reason the Keyholders have had enough and decided to force a change, if only to save the bank's reputation."

"Ridiculous, there has always been corruption within the bank, you can't tell me they decided to make a move now, especially after ignoring it for so long."

"Isn't it obvious that bastard Mudd has finally made his move? Only he has the power to force through such a sudden change."

"Impossible, he's far too busy dealing with the rebellious Great Houses, how could he possibly have time to incite the Bank after ignoring Essos for so long? What the hell is Doran doing, he promised to weaken the damn Mudd for us."

"He likely doesn't even know we exist yet."

"If you bothered to check, you'd know those snakes have already been put down. As for the cripple, anything he says is just pure air, nothing more."

"Why you…"

"..."

Watching his fellows devolving into an argument on Erlend's potential responsibility for this change and Doran's complacency, the head slammed his fist on the table and caught them all off guard.

The arguments stopped in their tracks, no one daring continued lest they offend him.

"We don't have time for your petty squabbles, tell me straight. Is the Mudd boy truly responsible for this?" He demanded.

The members looked at each other with uncertainty, before one bravely spoke up. "While there's possibly someone else who might have incited it, the most likely candidate would still be the Mudd King."

The head seethed in fury, he should have had the boy and his Uncle killed years ago, damn being cautious.

Killing Mudd's father and mother should've crippled the Mudds and seen them beset at all sides, instead, it seemed to have invigorated that wretched clan of barbarians.

As for the useless rats that failed to complete the job, he couldn't help but sneer at their arrogance. No… he should've made sure to end things personally, now he was paying the price.

"Find a way to end his lizards. As long as Mudd has those beasts, even if he dies, we will still face the risk of being burnt to death or devoured by them." Many of those present shuddered at the thought of such a thing happening.

Word has spread of the fate of the Warlocks, and what made it more frightening was that Erlend himself didn't even need to be present alongside his pets. This showed that those creatures held an unnatural amount of intelligence, especially when compared to their Targaryen predecessors.

"Getting in touch with the Warlock remnants might prove useful, surely they have gathered some useful information we can make use of." One of those seated suggested.

"He's not wrong, everything has a weakness, we just haven't found it yet."

"The horn didn't work, what could possibly hurt those demonic creatures?" Someone complained.

"I knew we should've killed the idiot who gave away the horn."

The head looked at the fools in disdain, "You imbeciles have been viewing them as Valyrian Dragons, which they clearly aren't, at least not fully. No, the answer to our problem might be found in the east and their sorcerers."

"You would have us head to Yi Ti of all places?"

"Do you have any other solutions?" Was his retort.

Silence filled the room, as the group seemed to agree with his suggestion, he was well aware that time was running out for them. Mudd could only take so much before retaliating and given enough time, the ambitious king was guaranteed to uncover their identities.

Their strength now lay in anonymity; he was confident that the King was simply targeting their group in order to set the stage for his campaign against Essos.

The corruption within the Iron Bank was always apparent to the Mudds, the Dragonslayer had done the same during his tenure, so it made sense for Erlend to follow suit.

Cleaning the house was expected of every ruler, it was simply common sense.

"Now is not the time to divide ourselves, we must make the first move before Mudd is able to realize the truth of the matter."

"As if… His predecessors failed to find out, how could he possibly know?"

"Stop comparing him to his forefathers, we did that before, and look where that got us. No, he's far too dangerous to live, we must get rid of him soon."

"Aye."

"Well said."

"I agree."

"He's been overreaching for far too long, we should get rid of his spawn too." There were nods of agreement from the rest of the group, their confidence soaring from their past success.

As for the head, he looked gloomily at his fellow conspirators, their arrogance once more rearing its ugly head. How dare they ignore his warnings and decide to do something so stupid.

It seemed he'd have to do some trimming soon enough.

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Note: So everyone thinks Erlend is doing this or that, What are his true intentions? You know what people say about assuming... Well, we'll see in the upcoming chapters I suppose.