Chapter 8

The next week was one of deep confusion for Caspian as he really had naught to do but sit in the castle and read along with the aging maester who frequented the place. Ser Cortnay Penrose was a gracious host and castellan of the fortress but Caspian was bored. He had been sent here on a peacekeeping mission from his uncle and his mother and so had accomplished nothing.

The only upside was his half-brother Edric. His energy and vitality were a sight to behold and Caspian could not look upon him without gaining a smile.

His mother Delena Florent who also frequented the fortress, though Caspian did not see as much but when he did, she always gave him a smile and a nod. Because she was highborn she merited more respect than any of the other whores his father had bedded. She was also the only one with a more agreeable temperament than the others as well.

Caspian alternated his days between reading and spending time with his hair brother. The oddest thing however was the fact that whenever the servants came into contact with him they whispered the words Storm Prince under their breaths.

Caspian heard to so many times that he finally went to the aging Maester and demanded to know what it meant.

"You are the only true born Baratheon son of his grace King Robert," the Maester told him. "And you were born during one of the greatest storms to shake King's Landing since Aegon Targaryen conquered Westeros. The Storm Lords have only served those born of the Baratheon who are descended from the Storm Kings. They believe you to be a Storm Prince, soon to be a Storm King who will rain lightning and thunder down on your enemies."

Caspian wasn't sure what to make of this, whether it was mummery or truth but the words Storm King resonated with him especially because of the dream he had had on the way to the fortress of Storm's End. The fact that it resonate with his dream seem to shake him to spirit.

His mother had said he was a storm bringer when he was younger, that she had gone into labour as the clouds rolled in and his cries as he came into the world were louder and fiercer than any babe she had ever heard before. Joffrey had cried when he was born, but it was not like the cries Caspian had given she said. His had echoed with the thunder and when the maester had held him up to the window to look at him, the lightning had flashed across his face and that was when she had truly seen Robert in him.

Caspian shook off the memory. His mother's voice had been far away when she told him that story and he wondered why on earth it was one he remembered so well.

Storm King. The voice has asked him. Storm King.....

No the servants assertions of who he was went far beyond those of simple mummery and Caspian truly began to wonder if there was more to what they were saying than a simple title. He was a descendent of the Durrandons through the female line and that had to mean something. Why were they called Storm Lords in the first place? He knew that one his ancestors had slain a great sea monster and Durran Godsgrief married a child of the storm & sea. Was it possible that that in turn had given Durran a strange magical prowess over storm?

Was that why they were called Storm Kings?

Gods he missed Uncle Tyrion, the little man would have known exactly what to say. He was the only one of the Lannisters that he trusted wholeheartedly. Not his brother or his mother or his grandfather or his other uncle, none of them were worth his trust but Tyrion.

He wished he had come with him.

Despite his new status as the Hand of the King, mother will treat him terribly in that stinking shithole of a city, he thought one day as he was taking a walk on the shores one day several days after his landing in Storms End.

In the meantime he was reflecting on a letter he had received from Robb Stark several days earlier. It had been sent personally as opposed to by a raven. Too many of them were being watched these day and it wouldn't surprise Caspian at all to know that Varys and Lord Baelish had their fingers in the Stormlands as well as in King's Landing.

Apparently Robb Stark had received word that his father had escaped King's Landing and was now on Dragonstone with his sisters if the message the letter said had been sent by Stannis was any indication.

He had indeed called the banners and marched south to rescue his father and Caspian had been told several times by the maester of Storm's End that they could expect to see banners marching across the Storm Lands soon enough.

He hadn't received any news from his mother while he was there but he supposed that was normal. She didn't want any of the ravens being intercepted along the way.

Instead he spent his days in the enormous library in Storm's End reading up on his ancestors and trying to discern for himself just what had happened in his dream on the way from King's Landing.

The voice had called him a Storm King and it didn't sound as if it were addressing him by the title that his ancestors would have been known as. It almost seemed as if they were addressing him as one who would have power over the storms, the winds, the waves and the lightning.

Caspian knew such things were absurd and that no such power existed in this world. He knew Elenei had been a creature of power being a mermaid and all and she must have possessed such magic's that would allow her to live on dry land otherwise the Baratheon line wouldn't exist.

But having power over the lightning, the wind and the waves?

Surely that was ridiculous.

Wasn't it?

Caspian sighed and pushed the heavy books he had been reading away. He had been in Storm's End nearly four days and had received almost no answers. He desperately wanted to write to his Uncle Tyrion and see how he was faring but during a time of war, perhaps sending a raven would not be wise.

That didn't mean he couldn't send one with a squire however. Aside from his little bastard brother Edric there wasn't anyone else in the fortress that he particularly liked spending time with. As Ser Cortnay was busy with his duties as castellan of the castle, it fell to Caspian to watch out for the little boy who was only four years old.

His mother Delena didn't reside in the castle anymore as her son had been taken there to squire for Lord Renly and now that Renly was out of the castle there wasn't as much for him to do but spend time with his little brother. It was blessedly normal but also terribly boring.

Caspian managed to get more practice in with his sword there than he had ever managed to at home. And in King's Landing he had trained with Ser Barristan, arguably the greatest fighters in the Seven Kingdoms.

As there wasn't much to do but wait for his uncle's return and try to keep himself busy in the meantime.

He wondered if Lord Stark had managed to reunite with his family again. He wasn't so naïve however to believe that getting out of King's Landing would be enough for the North to send their banners home, especially with what Lord Stark knew.

He would let it be known all across the North that all the royal children save him were bastards and that he was the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms.

Caspian rubbed the side of his face wryly and thought if Joffrey heard those allegations, he would likely explode and order his head on a spike just for spite.

Now that is something that I would like to see.

Deciding to put the book down and see more of the ancestral home of his father, Caspian exited the library and wandered along the halls until he was out of the fortress entirely. He knew if his uncle were here he wouldn't want him to wander outside alone as he was the future king of Westeros but Caspian couldn't really help it. He liked to wander and he had always been someone who couldn't stay in one place for long.

Deciding a walk along the shoreline would be just what he would need to clear his head and think, Caspian made for the mountain path ensuring to keep his cloak pulled over his head.

He carefully made his way down the steps in the sea wall and descended to the beach where he began to stroll slowly along the shoreline.

All was peaceful here at Storm's End unlike the rest of the realm he was sure. Banners were being raised, horns were being blown, horses were being saddled and armor was being put on.

War was coming.

A war to place him on the throne.

They would kill every Lannister they found and they would show no mercy.

Except perhaps for Lord Stark, he would ensure the survival of Tommen and Myrcella if Tyrion wasn't able to. Caspian knew he suffered some grief that he hadn't been able to help Elia and her children and that grief would compel him to do the same for his brother and sister.

It wasn't as if Tommen would ever take the throne if the war was won, he was a bastard with no ties to it.

Caspian took a deep breath. He wasn't sure if he was ready to be a king. Seven Hells he was barely fifteen name days old. He knew there had been younger kings to sit upon the Iron Throne but that did little to comfort him. For the first time in his life, the cocky arrogance he had gotten from his uncle Jaime was giving way to anxiety.

What if the war is lost? He thought to himself. I am in an enviable position at the moment. No side will kill me to place themselves on the throne and I have endeared myself to the North because I have rescued Lord Stark and his daughters. I am virtually untouchable right now and am likely to be for the rest of this thrice damned war.

He had played his cards very well his uncle would have said. He was the only Lannister the north would respect for what he had done and yet he was the only true born Baratheon with a claim to the throne. The Lannisters wouldn't kill him as he was still the queen's son and the Baratheons and Starks wouldn't kill him as he was also Robert's son.

My mother has given me a gift when she didn't use moon tea on me all those years ago, he thought bitterly.

The wind whipped his hair back as he walked along the shore watching the waves roll in. Caspian knew war and battle were a common thing in the land he lived but deep down he liked peace much better.

His father had thrived during wartime as if his rebellion wasn't enough indication of his hot blood and he had wilted during peacetime because he was a man made for war not politics.

He wondered if that was the reason his mother had kept him close to her since his birth and didn't allow him to spend a lot of time with Robert other than allowing him to spar with the knights of the Kingsguard.

She seemed to want to make sure that he stayed as far away from his father as possible as if to spite him. All his other siblings were from Jaime's seed but if she could keep the only thing of Robert's from his to spite him and what he'd done to her than it seemed to make her happy.

In truth, Caspian wasn't sure how he felt about that. His mother was a master manipulator and in her mind, her children were her greatest weapons. The one good thing about Joffrey was that he had seen how she acted with him and knew how to see through her.

She hated all other children but the ones she had if what had happened on the Kings road was any indication. Caspian knew that her and Joffrey's relationship had been a toxic one and she had never taken him to heel even though he mightily deserved it.

Now she never would be able to.

In a way he wondered if this was the price she had to pay for what she had done with her twin brother.

He cringed and forced himself to stop thinking about that, even the notion of that fornication made him feel ill and it wasn't something that he wanted to stomach. Not today, not when he had at least some semblance of peace which he was sure was soon to be shattered.

His walk along the shore led him to the shores beneath the fortress itself which was solid rock. When the tide was out he could walk there and seeing as he had never been before he decided to try for a small adventure.

There were numerous caves beneath the keep and he had never seen the inside of them before. He would soon leave this place and likely he never would have the time again.

Suddenly drawn toward them, he pushed ahead and stepped into one of the closest and largest caves so he was out from under the sky.

The air in there was damp but not musty and the ground was soft beneath his feet. There were rocky crags protruding from the ground and he had to be careful with his steps lest he fall and skewer himself on one the protrusions.

The light lit the mouth of the cave although it didn't go back very far and Caspian carefully stepped further into the cave and into more dim lighting. He wished he had thought to bring a torch with him as he didn't know what sort of creatures might be hiding in a cave of this size but there wasn't really time to think of that now.

He wasn't even sure how far back the cave went. Thousands of years of erosion since Durran erected his bayside keep could have rendered the area unstable so he decided that it probably wouldn't be safe to venture too far in.

But suddenly a curiosity came over him to explore this place thoroughly. After all even if the war wasn't won by the Baratheon this castle was by all rights his. He was the heir to Storm's End and by laws older than the land itself, that wasn't something that Joffrey could take away.

If even the war failed he was in a position to help those he loved and still have some semblance of ruling as well as be away from his monstrous brother.

Let Joffrey burn the city to the ground, he thought smirking cynically as he wandered into the back of the cave. Sooner or later those poor souls in King's Landing will get it through their heads that he cares nothing for the city and someone will assassinate him. When that day comes I believe I will hold a tourney.

Clearly there was no love lost between him and his brother.

His grandfather had often said that the lion doesn't concern itself with the opinions of the sheep but Caspian believed that if the lion wasn't careful the sheep would rise up and try to kill him. That was why it was wise to keep an eye on those beneath you because their opinions could keep you in power…..or take it from you.

Something that Joffrey was soon to figure out.

He continued walking into the darkness of the cave, hand gripping the hilt of his sword as he felt his way along the walls. The light was completely gone, but it was dim and he could make out the rocks as he moved along.

It wasn't until the light in the cave was nearly gone that his hand felt something odd.

His hand had struck against something cold and metallic on the cave wall, something that shouldn't have been there as there was only harsh stone to be found in this cave.

Curious he brushed his hand against it once more and found that the metal covered a section of the wall that was higher than his head and reached down to the sandy ground at his feet.

It was a door.

Almost shaking with excitement, Caspian felt his way along the edge of the door for the handle and knelt slightly trying to find it.

He was rewarded for his efforts when his fingers came into contact with a small rusted protrusion on the right side of the door and eagerly his hand closed around it.

It was rough with age and he took care not to be too rough with it lest it break off and he never see what was behind the door. He twisted it gently and was pleased to find that it was solid and it held so he could be a little rougher with it. Caspian twisted it harder and was rewarded with a squealing sound like that of the door giving way. At once he yanked harder and the door jerked toward him but was suddenly stopped by a barrier that jangled and rang like a series of bells.

He wondered why on earth someone would have attached chains to the inside of the door to keep it shut before they sealed the place up but it was no matter because he had his sword with him and they would soon be taken care of.

As he moved to break them with the blade, Caspian had a thought. Whoever had sealed this place had obviously had no intention of anyone else ever seeing it and as such the air in it might be foul. The last thing he wanted to do was poison himself and so he would have to test the air first with a torch.

Running back to the shoreline where he found some driftwood and started a fire before taking his home made torch back to the cave took some time, but to Caspian it seemed to fly by in an instant with the way his blood was singing in his ears about his discovery.

He felt his way along the door again until he grasped the knob in his hand and jerked it out so he could stick the torch through and test the air.

Caspian waited a few second before he saw it dip and flicker for a moment but did not go out. Satisfied, he stuck his foot inside the door to prop it open and slashed down with his sword against the chains.

They emitted a clear high sound like a bell tolling as he cut through them and he couldn't help thinking it was odd but didn't pay it much mind at the moment.

By this time, Caspian was shaking and he didn't know if it was from fear or anticipation as he had a feeling that no man had set in this room for centuries.

And now he would be the first.

Just as he was about to go in, the light on the wall from the torch illuminated something he hadn't seen before.

Above the door, there were runes etched into the rock, runes he had never seen before and had no idea what they meant.

However as he perused them carefully one caught his attention and only because he had seen it in a history book of House Baratheon when he had been searching for information on the legitimacy of his siblings.

It was the word Durrandon.

He had no idea what the other runes said but he somehow knew with a terrible certainty that they had been there long before Aegon had come to Westeros….perhaps even since the days of the First Men and certainly the time of Durrans.

Caspian was now trembling almost uncontrollably as he had a feeling that whatever he found in this place that his ancestors had first hidden it. And the fact that he had uncovered it as the only son of Robert Baratheon was even more ironic.

He was about to enter a place that time had forgotten. He certainly felt this must be like exploring the ruins of Valyria.

Taking a deep breath, he tightened his grasp on the door and jerked it open. It came free with a terrible squealing sound but he was so far back in the cave that he didn't think anyone would hear him.

Swallowing hard, the torch leading him he stepped inside and let light shine on a place that was more bizarre and ancient than any he had ever seen. It was a great room, cut entirely from stone with great pillars supporting the ceiling above the ground. Caspian had no idea how high the ceiling rose but he assumed he would have to stand on his head at least four or five times to reach the top.

What is this place? He thought with awe.

It was then that he caught sight of the tombs. They were everywhere, cut into the rock itself and so many so high that it reminded him oddly of the way a piece of honey comb would look on the outside.

There were inscriptions underneath each tomb saying which body was laid to rest here and it suddenly came over him like a flood.

I'm standing in the ancestral tomb of the Durrandons…..all of my ancestors are buried here. The realization was enough to start his hands trembling with excitement and awe at the discovery.

In the centre of the room there appeared to be a large statue of a powerful warrior, his features graven in a snarl as if he were in the heat of battle. His helm was ancient and the stone of it almost cracked in two and surrounding him was a creature eroded from time. Caspian couldn't be certain but it seemed reptile to him with tail and snout.

He was sitting down ironically on a large slab of stone and there rested an enormous great sword resting across his knees. It looked almost too heavy for Caspian to lift but something deep in his spirit told him he had to try.

The sword was also one of the oddest pieces he had ever seen. There was a blue stone embedded in its pommel that didn't seem to lose its lustre no matter how long it had been there and seems to sparkle even in dark. Its hilt was beveled, as if it had been continuously struck with rocks or stones until there were soft indentations in the metal. Certain runes were crafted on the fuller. They seemed to be of the language as that carved on the rock near entrance. Well, he certainly would look for their meaning in library.

The cross guard was all one piece of bright metal and its ends were razor sharp, enough to gouge out a man's eyes.

How ancient is this sword? He thought to himself absently.

The sides of the blade itself coming down from the point itself were jagged with razor sharp protruding edges that were made for ripping and tearing. In the light of the torch it almost looked like a piece of lightning that had been torn from the sky. There were runes emblazed on its flat, but Caspian didn't think he knew any of them.

This was a weapon of carnage…..and any who found himself unfortunate to be carved with such a thing would only be a slaughter after.

This sword was tied to the Durrandons and part of him wondered if Orys Baratheon had found this place when he defeated Argillac the Arrogant and took his daughter to wife. And then he wondered if this had been a sword of that belonged to Durran as it certainly didn't look like any other great sword he had ever seen.

Remembering the story of how Durran's wife Elenei had been a maiden of the sea he began to wonder if this was something had come from the ocean itself during the Age of Heroes. Quieting his mind as it was whirling with crazy thoughts, Caspian reached forward to take hold of the hilt and lift the sword.

He hesitated but just as his fingers grasped the hilt a tingle of lightning raced up his arm and down his spine to his feet leaving him almost weak at the knees.

He steadied himself for a moment from stumbling and then with renewed determination, wrapped his hand around the hilt and yanked the sword towards him. It was so heavy he could barely lift it much less hold it upright, but somehow he managed it and gazed upon the piece with astonished eyes.

It was a weapon of slaughter and he was oddly enough reminded of a saw he had seen at Winterfell with similar jagged edges that had torn the wood it was cutting to fragmented pieces and Caspian nearly shuddered, imagining what something like this could do to a human.

It would leave carnage in its wake. Just like any storm after wrecking the land.

He glanced down at the statue that had been holding the sword and saw a few pieces of rotted leather and corroded metal beneath it which made him think that the sword had once been accompanied by a hilt.

Because his arms were getting tired from holding onto such a weapon, he lowered the blade and rested it back on the statue's hands. There was no way he could leave this here. This was the sword of his ancestors and thus was meant to be used. But for what he had no idea.

No doubt it would take time to build up the muscles to use such a sword and though Caspian was good with his own sword, he would have to train harder than he had ever had before to be able to use a weapon like this.

Part of him relished the challenge and another part was uncertain. Having found the sword of his ancestors, he realized that couldn't be a coincidence and part of him wondered if it was for some unknown reason that this sword had been found again.

His mind harkened back to the dream he had had on the way to Storm's End and the voice roaring in his ears and in his heart.

Find the StormBreaker, it had said. Go East Storm King, the voice had implored. Go East.

Then this carnage machine was certainly the Storm breaker. An apt name for Durrandons, the descendants of storm and thunder.

But what on earth could I possibly find in the east? He wondered to himself absently.

But it was a thought that was easy to put out of his mind because of the discovery he had just made.

Caspian took the cloak from his shoulders hurried and carefully wrapped it around the great sword so that no one would see it when he went back to the castle. The last thing he wanted was people asking questions that he didn't have the answers to.

He was sure that no one alive right now had seen this tomb and thus the appearance of this sword could be heralded as an omen of ill things to come. No he needed to figure out what it all meant before he said anything or revealed the existence of the sword.

When he had achieved answers to his questions, than he would reveal the location of the tomb to Ser Cortnay. He was someone that could be trusted and he would perhaps have to have the maester of Storm's End, Maester Jurne down there to tell him just what the inscriptions said as he only knew the one word.

He thanked all the reading he had done into his ancestors before the Baratheons had taken Storm's End that he at least knew what the word Durrandon was in those runes.

Caspian shook off the chill that had come over him and with an effort tucked the great sword under his arm and retreated from the tomb before pulling the door shut behind him and taking a deep breath.

He strode from the cave quickly hoping his presence in the castle hadn't been missed by Ser Cortnay or his brother Edric.

He would hide the sword away for now until he figured out what to do.

Somewhere….he was sure that his ancestors were either smiling….or rolling in their graves.