Chapter 44: Qarth

(Year 294 A.C)

------

(General POV)

"Can you open it?" Rhaenys asked curiously as she stared at the massive black vault in front of her.

It had been a few days since their wedding, and rather than go back to Asteria or go out on an adventure and whatnot, Will decided that they would stay in Dorne for a few days so they could spend some time with Elia and the others before they set off on their next grand adventure.

Rather than just sit around and do nothing, Will decided to finally go through his Inventory and sort a bunch of random crap that he had been meaning to go through, which is how they got to the topic of the vault.

Will hadn't even looked at the damn thing since they were in Valyria, so he figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to see if there was anything worth a damn inside of it, hence why Rhaenys was standing beside him as she stared at the hulking black cube.

"I'm insulted that you even have to ask." Will told her smugly as he put one hand onto the cube in front of him where the outline of the door could be seen.

It was true that he had failed the last time he had tried getting into the vault, but he had gotten much stronger since then, and he had been experimenting like crazy with his magic.

Comparing his magic from then and now, it was like comparing a lake to the ocean, and he was confident that not even the Valyrians of old would have been able to make something he couldn't get into, or at the very least, destroy.

Pumping a bit of magic inside of it, Will tried to feel the inner workings of the weird substance, but it was weird. Whenever he pushed his magic into the ground, the earth was almost welcoming as it spread his mana wherever he willed it to go, doing whatever he willed it to do. The black material that made up the vault was almost the exact opposite.

Pushing his magic inside of it felt more like walking through molasses rather than the simplicity he normally felt. Then again, he was able to push his magic inside of it this time, which was already better than hitting the wall like he did last time.

Focusing intently, Will pushed even more of his mana inside of the thing, hoping to get some sort of idea of what he was dealing with.

After almost 15 minutes, and using far more mana than he thought, Will finally managed to see the inner workings of the door. Not the whole vault like he intended, but the door.

Will had no doubt that he had enough mana to fill the entirety of the vault, but at this rate it would take the entire day to accomplish, and he really didn't want to just stand there doing it.

It was annoying how it took more mana to fill the door than it did to cover a small island, which was also a little intriguing if Will was being honest. He had no idea how the Valyrians of old managed to create such material, or shape it for that matter, but they must have been crazy skilled.

Once the door was filled completely with his mana, Will was able to get an idea of what he was working with. The gears inside that held things in place all led to the weird slot on the left side of the door.

Flexing his magic, Will pulled the bars back inside the door, causing the gears inside of it to begin twisting and turning, causing a whole bunch of noise.

Still, the desired effect was achieved, as he could see there was nothing holding the door closed anymore other than the weight of the door itself.

With a wave of his hand, the 24-inch-thick door slowly swung open.

Rhaenys was like a little kid opening her present on Christmas morning, and as soon as the door began to move, she rushed over to the opening so she could be the first to look inside, only to have her hopes crushed when Will grabbed her hand and stepped in front of her.

"We don't know if this thing is trapped!" He told her seriously, more than a little annoyed at her lack of caution. They didn't know what dangers the vault held, and he didn't want her to risk her life nor their unborn child's life just because she was impatient.

After pouting at him for a few seconds and not managing to move him, Rhaenys let out a sigh before she took a step to the side and crossed her arms. She knew when to push for more from Will, but now was not one of those times, so she simply waited until he deemed it safe.

It was a little annoying, but she knew he only had her best interest at heart, and she could also see that she had been more reckless than was warranted, given the situation.

Will made sure there was no poison in the vault, and only after making sure nothing would shoot out at them did, he give her the all clear to inspect the vault.

With the door now wide open, Rhaenys and Will were both able to get a clear view of the vault's contents, and to say they were surprised would be an understatement.

There were shelves upon shelves of different things, including, but not limited to, gold, jewels, books, weapons, metal ingots, trinkets, and other weird bobbles.

However, the most eye-catching thing of all, would have to be the large dark purple scaly egg resting on a pedestal in the center of the room.

Turning his head quickly to the side, Will could see that Rhaenys was staring intently at the large egg in front of them, making him sigh internally.

'There's no hiding this one from her.' Will thought, annoyed that he had let a dragon egg be seen by someone else.

He was doing his best to make sure that the dragons never saw the light of day, but it seemed that was too much to ask for. Ignoring Rhaenys, who was too engrossed in the egg to look at everything else in the room, Will began to inspect things.

Looking at everything, Will had to give the guy who owned the vault a little bit of respect.

'He was very meticulous.' Will thought, noting how it seemed everything was exactly where it was meant to be.

From the left side of the shelves, the books went from smallest to biggest, with weird writing beneath them that Will couldn't understand.

'Probably high Valyrian.' He thought before he moved to something else.

Will didn't even have to look inside the chests to know that they were filled with gold and jewels, but some of them did have weird objects that Will couldn't seem to recognize, while others had jewelry, such as necklaces, rings, bracelets, hair pins, and other things.

Not interested in those things, Will moved to the stack of metal ingots on the floor beneath the shelf. With a simple glance it was plain to see that they were Valyrian steel ingots, which were worth a kingdom all by themselves.

There were exactly 110 ingots, all neatly stacked in rows of 10. Seeing them all, Will wondered if the man who previously owned the vault was just absurdly wealthy or was just a hoarder.

'Could have been a thief.' He mused to himself.

'And why is there 110, not just 100? It would have made more sense if he had 10 stacks of 10, given how the rest of the room is all in multiples of 10.' He thought, actually scrutinizing the room a bit more.

With a quick count, there were 10 rows of cases, with 10 shelves in each case.

'Could this guy only count to 10?' Will chuckled at the thought.

Done with looking at the ingots, Will moved his attention to something else, namely the weapons on the walls. There were 9 weapons on the two walls holding the door together, 4 on one side and 5 on the other, which was a little odd considering everything was in groups of 10.

Still, there was an empty weapon rack on the side with 4 weapons, so it was at least explainable to Will.

'Either he only had 10 weapons and kept one with him at all times, or he was still trying to acquire that tenth weapon.' Will thought.

An odd thing about the weapons was that they were all swords of the same build, differing only by their designs.

'Was he only a collector of swords?' Will wondered, not believing for a second that a man who owned all of this wouldn't have a knife or something stashed away.

Focusing more intently on the contents of the vault, Will finally noticed something he had overlooked.

There were 10 small chests, about 18 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 6 inches tall, all filled with gold, 5 on each side of the room beneath the weapons mounted on the wall above them.

The gold, however, was not the only thing inside the chests. Opening up the nearest chest, Will pushed his hand inside beneath gold coins, then gripped the handle of something before he pulled it out.

It was a long-curved dagger with a dragon bone handle. It had a weird design etched into the blade, but it was still cool.

Checking each of the other cases, Will found that they all had their own dagger hidden inside them, which at this point was no surprise. If there was something in the room, it was most likely in a quantity of 10, aside from the books and the dragon egg.

'Hmm?' Will paused as he studied the books even further.

Every 10 books, there was a small divider that separated the books from each other, which Will only now noticed, but again he wasn't surprised.

'Of course, they are.' He sighed. The guy had a pattern, and it seemed he wouldn't change it for the books.

The dragon egg however was something that not just anyone could get multiple of and horde, not even back before the doom. At least as far as Will could guess. The coins as well, but Will didn't even bother trying to check those over, as he knew anyone would try and get as wealthy as they could regardless of the denominations, they acquired said wealth in.

He was still going through chests and admiring the stuff he found when he heard the all too familiar sound of horses approaching. Turning to the doorway, Will made his way outside of the vault, leaving Rhaenys, who was still admiring the large purple egg.

Outside the vault, Will saw a small group of riders approaching, and upon seeing who they were he waved at them before walking back inside. He had known he couldn't hide from them forever, but 2 days was actually pretty good for only going a few miles away from the Watergardens.

All he wanted was a bit of alone time with Rhaenys, but everyone was making it their life goals to hound him with requests and whatnot.

It had gotten to the point where they had just up and vanished in the night to a small home that Will had built along the coast near a rocky outcropping. It was fun spending time alone together, but they both knew that it wouldn't last forever.

"YOU OPENED IT!!" An excited shout from Aegon rang out from outside of the vault.

"Hooray." Will deadpanned, not nearly as excited as he was a few minutes ago.

Within minutes everyone else dismounted from their horses and ran to see what was inside the vault. As soon as they reached the door of the vault, everyone froze in place as they admired the wealth in the room.

"Wow..." Daenerys whispered quietly as her eyes roamed around the room.

"DIBS!" Aegon shouted, running over and grabbing a sword that had been hanging on the wall.

"You can't call dibs! None of its yours!" Drox exclaimed in defense of the treasures in the room, even as his own eyes scoured the vault for anything he might be able to lay claim to as well.

"What does 'dibs' mean?" Doran asked Elia, who was standing next to Rhaenys.

"It means, 'the right to share, or choose something.' Will taught them." Elia explained, not taking her eyes off of the egg that Rhaenys was holding.

"Did you steal this vault from Qarth?" Doran asked, gaining Will's attention.

"No, we found it in Valyria. Why would you think I stole this from Qarth?" He asked, wondering why Doran named Qarth specifically.

"Years ago, a merchant prince from Qarth called Xaro Xhoan Daxos called for the greatest locksmiths in the known world to come to Qarth to try and open a massive black vault. He called for the greatest thieves as well. He offered their weight in gold should they manage to open the vault. They all left empty handed." Doran explained a story he had heard about years previously.

"Did he ever get into the vault?" Drox asked curiously, intrigued by the story.

"Of course. He has the key to get inside of it. He was just testing to see if anyone else could get inside of it." Doran answered mirthfully.

After hearing the story, Will couldn't help but contemplate that little bit of information.

'Was this guy in the show?' He wondered, thinking back to what he could remember from watching the show in his previous life. He could recall Daenerys going to Qarth, and someone stole her dragons from her, but he thought that was the warlocks.

It took a few minutes, but eventually he did remember how a girl that betrayed Daenerys was locked in a vault with some guy, only the vault in the show wasn't described as being made of black stone.

'Come to think of it, didn't the door open with some necklace thingy?' Will thought.

After staring at the door to the vault, Will decided that he would go to Qarth and see this vault for himself. If it was similar to his own, and the key worked and everything, he figured he could "make a deal" for the vault from this Xaro Xhoan Daxos.

"What is that?" Jon asked, pointing towards the egg that Rhaenys was holding, causing everyone else to focus on it too.

The egg very quickly became the topic of discussion amongst the group, and Will could only sigh in regret at not having hid it away before Rhaenys could discover what it was.

Hours later after everyone was done looking inside the vault, Will finally stored it back inside his inventory. Granted it was missing more than a few items that it had held before, but Will was okay with that. It's not like he actually needed any of the stuff in this thing.

Drox had been given his own Valyrian steel sword for always standing with House Martell and for having protected them on more than one occasion. He was also given one of the small chests that was full of gold, and one of the Valyrian steel daggers.

"Keep faith with me and you will continue to grow and prosper. Betray me and I will show you a fate far worse than death." Will had not so subtly told him, not that the warning needed to be said in the first place.

Drox had everything he could have ever dreamed of and more, and he owed it all to Will. There was no one alive he respected more, and no one who terrified him as well.

He had seen Will use his magic firsthand and knew the fates of everyone who had ever sided against him. No, even if he was guaranteed death, he would still choose to die over standing against Will. Death was far more preferable to the inhumane tortures Will could put together.

Doran was also given a Valyrian steel sword, though Will did say that he would take it, and have it reforged into something that better suited the Martells. Doran agreed to the proposition, then thanked Will for honoring him.

Wars would be fought over just one of the weapons in the vault, and yet Will had given three of them away as if they were random rocks he had picked up off the ground. That wasn't even mentioning the weapons he had given to Aegon and Jon in the past.

Wealth truly didn't mean anything to a man with absolute power.

Anyway, Elia had claimed a number of books that she thought sounded interesting. She wasn't fluent in Valyrian speech, but she knew a fair bit.

Daenerys was actually the most versed in the subject out of all of them, but then again, the young girl could pick up languages better than any of them. Already she knew three different languages and was in the process of learning her fourth.

Both Aegon and Rhaenys could get by on speaking Valyrian, but that was about it. Neither of them could read the ancient text, but they were still learning with their mother.

Jon had only just started learning the language a few months ago, so he wasn't that well versed, but he knew more than Will did, who didn't know anything about the language.

It honestly hurt his head to think about the language and had opted out of trying to learn anything about it.

'I need to get me a translator to write all of these books in English.' Will thought, deciding that he would try and find someone who fit the bill when he was over in Essos.

-----

The following day, Will was standing with Rhaenys on the docks of the Watergardens, the two sharing a moment together.

They were sharing a kiss that had been going on for over a minute now, and if they hadn't already fucked earlier that morning, Will was sure they would be losing their clothes at the moment.

"Are you sure we can't come with you?" Aegon asked, disrupting the moment between Will and his sister.

"I'm sure. I don't want to be gone for long, and with you all there I'm sure we would be gone for months." Will told him without turning to look at him, making both Aegon and Jon deflate.

The two boys had both been interested in going to explore a city across the seas, only to have Will crush their dreams in seconds.

Seeing their distraught faces, Will asked, "Jon, you're 13 now, correct?" Jon was puzzled by the sudden question, but answered, nonetheless. "Aye?" He said, sounding confused.

"When you're 15, I'll take you all across the sea to experience Essos." He told them, getting a look of excitement from each of them, though they were noticeably not excited that they would have to wait 2 years, but they weren't about to argue about it.

"Come home safely." Elia told him as she hugged him close. She never liked it when he left them, but she also knew that he would never let himself be chained down in one place.

"Of course. I'll only be gone for a week. Maybe a fortnight if something comes up, but I'll try to be back sooner." He told her, then moved back to hold Rhaenys.

"Remember what I said. Take it easy and don't stress yourself. I'll be back before you know it." He said before kissing her again.

"I know. I'll have mother here with me, and the others will be more than happy to get me anything I need." Rhaenys said, shooting the others all a cruel little smile. If they didn't listen to her, she would just complain about them to Will, and he would take away something that they wanted.

"Now go, before I decide to come with you." She added, shooing him off.

Without further prodding, Will enveloped himself into a ball of wind before he was launched into the sky, disappearing from sight over the horizon only minutes later.

For the entire day Will flew through the sky at blinding speeds, making extremely good time on his part. He was amazed at the distance he had been able to cover, having crossed the Smoking Sea that was Valyria only shortly before sunset.

Will decided that he had been flying long enough and decided to stop for the night as soon as he made land because he didn't want to lose his location in the night.

As soon as he saw land in sight, he was about to fly down but something off in the distance caught his eye. North of his position, about a mile he guessed, something was lighting up the night sky.

Curious about it, Will changed his course and flew over to inspect whatever the strange thing was. Seconds later and Will was looking down at the great pyramids of Astapor that were alight with colored lanterns that lit up the sky. Music could be heard all around, and Will wondered if there was some festival that was going on.

A little curious, Will found a spot to land where people wouldn't see him, then made his way out into the streets to see if he could figure out what was going on.

He had only been walking for all of 5 minutes when someone grabbed his arm and began shouting at him in a foreign language.

The man was well dressed in a fancy robe, or Tokar, as Elia had called it. Apparently, it was a symbol of great wealth, but to Will it just looked uncomfortable.

He tried to make sense of the man's jabbering for a minute, but as soon as the guy pulled out a leather collar, Will sucker punched him right in the throat, then kicked him square in the balls.

When the man fell to the ground, Will picked up the collar off the ground next to the man, then moved over to him and placed the collar around his neck.

"Let's try this again." Will mumbled as he pulled the man to his feet.

"Do you speak the common tongue?" He asked, getting wide confused eyes from the man.

Rather than answer him, the guy began shouting hysterically in the same foreign language as before, gathering quite a bit of attention to them. Soon men from all over began to make their way over towards them, and Will could only frown when he saw the weapons they were carrying.

'I just got here and I'm already the center of attention.' He thought, wondering how the hell he was this unlucky.

Seeing the threat approaching, Will swung his sword out, decapitating the man who had started this whole mess, then rushed the approaching soldiers, who had momentarily frozen in place when he killed the noble.

Moving like a wraith, Will swept through the men around him, either killing or maiming them before he moved on to the next person. There were only about 10 or so men left to kill when a large group of men in armor could be seen running towards them with spears and shields.

'The unsullied.' He thought, recognizing them almost immediately.

Deciding he had had enough fun for one night, Will seemingly disappeared into thin air, though it had actually been into the ground. He had simply run behind a cart and dropped beneath the earth so no one would see his blatant use of earth magic.

'Astapor sucks!' He thought once he finally got clear of the city.

Less than 10 minutes of being in the city and he had already killed dozens of men and he didn't even do anything to warrant provocation. Not to mention he didn't even have a thing to show for his struggle.

'Next time I'll give them a reason!' He vowed, already planning on bankrupting the masters on his next visit.

Will went to sleep that night mad, wishing he had Rhaenys there to comfort him. She made a very good body pillow and would always spend some time just sitting beside him and running her hands through his hair. He spent the night thinking of her, and upon waking up in the morning he decided not to stay in Essos any longer than he needed to.

The rest of the trip to Qarth took most of the day, but Will arrived before the sun began to set over the horizon, which would be a record for centuries to come, he was sure.

When he landed down in the city, Will was actually surprised at the sight before him. It was truly a beautiful city, one that had made the other great cities of Essos pale in comparison.

The buildings were tall and colorful, and there were fountains everywhere that sprayed water into the air. In the evening light, the city was stunning. It also smelled of sweet spices, which was quite the upgrade from the shit and piss that was King's Landing.

Walking the streets, Will passed by a number of people who all either ignored him completely or nodded respectfully. It was an improvement from Astapor to be sure.

Walking around, Will stopped at more than a few merchant stalls and purchased large quantities of everything, earning a bit of good faith with the merchants themselves.

When he asked them about the rulers of the city, the merchants were more than happy to oblige in telling him all they knew, which was very helpful.

Qarth is nominally ruled by the Pureborn, who are seated in the Hall of a Thousand Thrones. They deal with all matters of civic importance, commanding the Civic Guard and the fleet of ornate war galleys which rule the Jade Gates between the seas.

However, the powerful guilds of the Thirteen, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the Ancient Guild of Spicers all contend endlessly with the Pureborn.

One thing of note, Xaro Xhoan Daxos was a member of the Thirteen, but was named specifically by more than a few of the merchants Will questioned, which led him to believe the man held a bit more power than the other members as most of them were hardly mentioned or not mentioned at all by some of the merchants.

When he asked where he could find this, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, most merchants just pointed in a specific direction, stating "If you go that way, you can't miss him."

Will didn't go straight to find Xaro's palace, instead he chose to wander the city a bit and get more information and spices.

One thing he didn't like to see, and something he wasn't sure he would ever get used to seeing, was people being sold at stalls as if they were just any other random object.

Will wandered around until the sun set over the horizon, then decided to make his way towards where Xaro was supposed to be.

He travelled in one direction for a while, and when he finally saw a palace that far outclassed most every other palace in the city, he figured he had arrived at the place.

Getting over the walls was nothing for Will, nor was it a challenge to avoid the guards patrolling the grounds. Will had become a ghost, seemingly able to walk through walls and avoid any prying eyes that might be around. It was honestly a bit frightening.

Anyway, Will used magic sense to scour the palace for the vault, and after searching for well over an hour, he finally found it.

The size of the palace could not be underestimated, as there was a literal maze inside of it, one that was easily half of a square mile all by itself.

When he was finally standing in front of the vault, Will was able to confirm that it was almost an exact replica of the one he had in his inventory, only the slotted design on the door was quite a bit different from the one on his vault.

He wasn't sure if it was important, but he guessed it simply made so the same key for this one couldn't work for any other vaults. Still, he would need to get the key to find out.

Now that he knew where the vault was, he decided to go and find the key, which was actually a lot easier than finding the vault.

Xaro Xhoan Daxus was asleep in the room next to the vault, which was quite helpful for Will. He too would probably sleep with his treasure in the same room as himself if he didn't have his inventory to guard them, but it was still unwise to keep your treasure where you sleep.

If thieves were going to break in, they would rather get the valuables and get out, but if you were there, they would probably kill you after they forced you to show them where the valuables were. Hence why banks were an important thing in the world.

Creeping into the room, Will noticed the two women that were sleeping next to the man, and wondered how the man was so trusting of them.

He doubted Xaro was married to either of them, and he very much doubted that either of them was in love with Xaro, and all it would take was a simple little knife or a drop of poison and he would be dead.

It was a frightening thought, but it happened more often than not in this world. The stories Oberyn had told him almost made him never want to sleep next to someone for the rest of his life. At least until he started sleeping with Rhaenys.

She gained way more from him being alive than dead, and she seemed to genuinely care for him. He would give her anything she desired, so it's not like she would need to try and kill him unless he was cruel with her. Which he wasn't.

Anyway, untrusting slaves aside, Will pulled out the pouch that Oberyn had gifted to him, then pulled out a small bottle of powder. Pouring a small bit onto a piece of cloth, Will moved until he was standing over Xaro, then quickly held the rag so it was covering his mouth and nose.

Xaro woke up and moved for all of a few seconds before he went back to sleep as though he had never woken in the first place.

Looking over at the still sleeping girls, Will poured a little more powder before he did the same thing to the closest one of them. The last girl however woke up while he was in the process of silencing the first girl, but unlike he expected, she hadn't so much as uttered a sound.

She simply stared at him with scared tear-filled eyes, looking as though she was going to die of fright. He couldn't see it, but his red eyes almost seemed to glow in the night, giving him a demonic appearance, which no doubt added to her fright.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I simply want you to remain sleeping. This will only put you to sleep. Do you understand?" He told her, to which she could only nod her head in response.

"I'm going to hold this to your mouth. Breath in deeply and you'll go back to sleep. You'll probably forget you ever saw me." He told her, to which she complied by leaning forward. As she leaned forward, he noticed how she winced in pain, despite her trying to hide it.

Putting the cloth to her nose and mouth, Will watched as she breathed in deeply 3 times before her eyes slowly closed. Before she could fall back, Will caught her and slowly brought her down so she was resting comfortably on her back.

Rather than call everything good and go back to his original purpose for coming here, Will pulled water from thin air, then brought it to the girl and checked her over.

With a simple scan of her body, he could see that she had some internal bleeding in her abdomen, and that 2 of her ribs were fractured. Her thighs were also lightly bruised, and she had a small cut on her right nipple that looked like it was infected.

Feeling some bit of pity for the girl, Will healed her internal injuries and got rid of the infection. He left her nipple scarred, and only healed the bruise a little bit, as he knew she would have no way to explain her healed condition. Hopefully everyone would think that she was just healing naturally.

Checking the other girl over, Will found that she had similar injuries to the other girl, and after doing the same thing to her, he moved over to Xaro.

Staring down at the sleeping man, Will could see the large pendant around his neck, but he wasn't really all that focused on it at the moment.

Without hesitation or remorse, Will punched as hard as he could, fracturing one of Xaro's ribs. He didn't stop until 4 of the man's ribs were fractured, then proceeded to twist his insides with blood magic to the point that he definitely had internal bleeding that might very well kill him.

Not done, Will pulled out a wooden mace he had found a while back, then wacked the man 3 times on both of his thighs, leaving some wicked bruising.

For his final act, Will pulled out one of his daggers and another bottle from Oberyn's pouch. This one had a weak poison in it that would make one very sick for days on end until the antidote was given or until the toxin was flushed out of one's systems.

Will coated the blade with the poison, then proceeded to cut the man's nipples down the middle so it looked like he had two mangled nipples on each pectoral.

Only after he finished punishing Xaro did Will rip the pendant from around his neck and head back towards the vault.

Looking from the pendant and back to the vault, Will shrugged his shoulders before placing it into the slotted section on the door, then waited. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Will tried to twist the pendant, but again, nothing happened.

Frowning, Will pushed the pendant, then tried twisting, which did show some results. An engraved ring around the door began to spin in the opposite way as he spun the pendant, and he could hear many more gears inside the door moving about as well.

After 3 seconds of gears turning, there was a loud sound that he was sure was the bars inside the door pulling back into the open position.

With a smile on his face, Will pulled the door open, hoping to find a mountain of gold and jewels, only to have his expectations crushed when the only things in the vault were two small chests filled with gold coins and a few jewels.

'Is this guy seriously rich or did he already spend everything on this massive ass house?!' Will whined, pissed that there was hardly anything in the vault that he could take.

Still, there was the vault itself, which was worth far more to him than anything in this damn overgrown palace.

With the vault now stored safely inside his inventory with its key, Will decided he had had his fun and that it was time to go, which meant only one thing.

Stretching his body, Will took a deep breath before he took off running down towards the door as fast as he could. He knew there were guards on the other side of the door, but that was okay. He had decided on this sort of exit once he punished Xaro.

Had he just exited the palace without making a sound, people would most likely accuse the two girls of the action and they would be punished for something they had no hand in. Which is why he decided to make a very unstealthily getaway.

Bursting through the doors, Will scared the shit out of the two guards, then began running down the hall with the guards shouting in alarm after him.

As soon as he rounded a corner, Will jumped through the walls into other areas of the palace, making sure that he was being seen in multiple different areas.

Before long he had everyone believing that there were dozens of intruders that had broken into the palace, which worked well enough for him.

Once he felt everything was good enough, he left Qarth, making his way westward along the coast.

Only when he was sure that he was far enough from anyone being able to find him did he make a shelter appear before he climbed in to get some sleep before sunrise.

It was a very productive day, and Will went to sleep with a smile on his face.

------

(Varys POV)

'Well done, Lord Baelish. Well done, indeed.' Varys thought happily after listening to a report from one of his little birds. It had only been a few short weeks since he hinted at the information to Lord Baelish and already, he was receiving results.

Rumors had started at the brothels about the legitimacy of the King's children, and about the Queen's nightly visitors, and already half the city knew of them.

Funny enough, the rumors talked about the queen sleeping with her cousin, Lancel Lannister, who also happened to be the King's squire, as well as 3 members of the King's Guard, one of whom was her brother, Jamie Lannister, the King slayer.

Varys of course knew the rumors to be true, but he didn't expect them to be brought to light anytime soon. It seemed Lord Baelish was going above and beyond with gathering information against the Lannisters, which was understandable. The more information against the Queen, the harder it would be for her to discredit.

It was a surprise that the King had yet to hear the rumors, but that was actually due in large part to Jon Arryn. The man was trying his best to confirm the legitimacy of the rumors before Robert heard them, most likely to stop any rush to judgement on Robert's part.

The man was not one to sit back and listen to both sides of a story, and his Hand knew this more than anyone.

Varys was lucky he was in such a well-placed position to learn everything, as he was the one reporting information to Jon Arryn and receiving the man's confidence in return.

'The fool.' Varys thought, smiling wickedly at the events playing out around him.

Most of the information he fed to Jon Arryn was in fact true, but he threw in a few bits of information here and there that was mostly speculation but would also make the old Hand more secretive.

There was also no worry about the old Hand troubling him in the future if he found out, because Varys had heard with his own ears, Lord Baelish instructing Lady Arryn to poison her husband with the Tears of Lys.

It would only be a matter of days before the Hand was gone, and Varys was already planning for what came next.

"The Young Griff '' as he was called, wasn't quite ready to take the Iron Throne just yet, but Illyrio Mopatis would speed things along. Already he was in the process of dealing with the Golden Company, a mercenary band in Essos, to take up arms with the Young Griff.

According to Illyrio, the captains of the Golden Company were mulling it over amongst themselves, and Illyrio believed that if they could see how broken Westeros actually was, they would be far more willing to join the cause.

This was why Varys was setting certain plans into motion. The Lions would be the most difficult to deal with, but if he managed to get every other kingdom in Westeros against them it wouldn't be a problem.

Dorne was already set in stone in his mind, as he knew full well how the Martells wanted nothing more than to end House Lannister once and for all.

In the years following Elia Martell's death, Prince Oberyn and Prince Doran hadn't been all that quiet about their plans, and it was only in recent years that they had gotten quiet.

Varys believed that was because like him, they too were trying to find the Targaryens to give them support to take the throne from the Lions and Staggs. He couldn't wait for it.

As for the Staggs, Varys was already in the process of dealing with them. He knew that once the Lions were dealt with, Robert would have no legitimized heirs. All it would take would be a few drops of poison or a knife to the heart when Robert was sleeping, and the realm would fall even further.

There was of course, Stannis and Renly, and though they were somewhat of a threat, they too could be dealt with. For months Varys had been whispering to Renly how good of a ruler he was, and that the realm was lucky to have him.

Even the sleeping companions of Renly Baratheon were "informed" to let him know how great of man he was. Varys was hoping to drive the wedge between Stannis and Renly in even further and have the two of them rip each other apart for him.

The Tyrells weren't so easily dealt with, but once they saw how hopeless the realm was under the Baratheon leadership, hopefully they would see the benefit of siding with the winning side.

As for the Vale, Lord Baelish was doing well enough on that front for him, and Varys knew it wouldn't be hard to deal with that whole situation later.

He had no intention of ever allowing Lord Baelish to just sit in as ruler of the Vale, as the man was so power hungry, Varys doubted he would be satisfied until he ruled over all of Westeros. Still, he would remain until he was no longer useful.

The Iron Isle was still in the midst of ripping themselves apart, making Varys have to do very little on that front.

Honestly, he was thankful to Castian for having done what he did, and he knew that once the 'True king' arrived on Westeros with his forces, the Iron born would bend the knee without much of a fuss.

The North was the only true unknown of the bunch, but that was solely due to Castian.

Varys was banking on the fact that the Northerners didn't care about the south, that they would remain out of the fight until the other 6 kingdoms were already under control, and then they would ride north with the combined might of every kingdom.

Surely even the northerners would be able to see the folly of going against the crown.

"Lord Varys. Might we speak together in my chambers?" Lord Arryn spoke, commanding more than asking.

Now free of his musings, Varys stood from his chair in the Small Council Chamber and followed along after the King's Hand to his chambers in the Tower of the Hand.

After a longer walk than he would have liked, Varys stepped into the tower of the Hand shortly after Jon Arryn. Once the door closed, the both of them found themselves sitting in the Hand's solar, with the Hand on one side of his desk, while the Master of Whisperers found himself on the other.

"What did you find?" Lord Arryn asked seriously. He had tasked Varys with gathering information on who was spreading the rumors around the city and how they came to know of such things. Obviously, someone had to know something.

"Unfortunately, not a lot, My Lord. My little birds have been spread all throughout the city, yet all the rumors seem to lead to brothels, but sadly none of them are owned by the same person. I'd wager a guard or servant let something slip when they went to see a whore." Varys said, trying not to put any attention on Lord Baelish.

It wouldn't do to have his would-be assassin killed before he carried out his assassination.

For almost an hour, Varys continued to discuss the rumors and their validity with Jon Arryn. He never outright said it, but he hinted that the rumors were more than likely true, but it would also be unwise to tell the king.

He had an image of keeping peace in the realms maintained, and it wouldn't do well for his cover if he was urging the hand to go to the king about the rumors.

When the meeting came to an end, Varys excused himself before making his way to his own chambers. Along his way, he couldn't help but smile to himself as he thought over the events that were happening around the city.

Baelish had been smart to lend out his whores to brothels that didn't belong to him, thus diverting the attention away from himself, but Varys would have covered for the man even if he hadn't. At least until the man carried out his assassination of Jon Arryn.

After that, he was useless to keep around. After all, what reason could there be to keep a poisonous snake around that didn't know its own master.

---------

(Petyr Baelish POV)

'In the game of thrones, even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they refuse to make the moves you've planned for them. It's a lesson that Cersei Lannister still has yet to learn.' Baelish mused to himself.

He knew full well that the Queen had heard mention of the rumors spreading across King's Landing, yet the ignorant whore hadn't run home to her father like she should have. It would be her death, and Baelish was more than happy to have been a part of it.

The stuck-up whore had put him down on more than one occasion, and he hadn't forgotten them. No, he remembered every slight against him as though it happened only hours before, and he would get his vengeance one way or the other.

"It is done, My Lord." A young girl said meekly as she bowed in front of him.

"Excellent. Now go back to your room and wait for your next client." Baelish told her, getting a nod before she did as he instructed.

He had tasked her with slipping a few drops of poison into a man's drink, a poison that would see him dead before the sun rose the following morning.

The man was no one important, but he had carried out a sensitive task for Lord Baelish, one that earned him a large sum of gold for his silence. However, Baelish didn't believe the gold would be enough to keep the man quiet forever.

'A bag of gold dragons buys a man's silence for a while, but a well-placed quarrel buys it forever.' He thought knowing it to be the truth of the matter.

Far too many people have come back requesting more gold or they would spill his secrets. It was better just to get it over and done with now, thus avoiding any problems down the road.

Sitting back in his chair, Baelish thought about the days to come and the events that would follow. He knew there would be war once Robert heard the rumors, and from the chaos he would climb the ladder to a position worthy of someone of his brilliance.

'First Lord of the Vale, then... King.' He thought, already seeing the plan come together.

---------

(Cersei POV)

Things were not going well for the Queen. When she had first heard the rumors about her and her... sleeping companions, she had turned white as a ghost.

She expected Robert to hear of it not long after she had, and had almost waited for her own execution, but it never came. It took a while before it occurred to her.

Robert enjoyed sticking his prick into women, not listening to the words coming out of their mouth. As for anyone else who might try talking to him, he was usually too drunk to understand a damn thing anyone said to him.

Jamie had come to her, almost begging her to flee with him and their children to Casterly Rock, but she would have none of it. They were Lannisters, and whatever came at them, they could handle it.

Still, she worried for the day when Robert ever heard the news of it because she knew she couldn't just spread her legs and have him forget about it. The man was much too violent and vengeful to forget or forgive something like this.

For now, though, she would do her best to try and quash the rumors. Already her spies had found and killed over a dozen fools who would dare speak ill of her, and anyone else speaking out of turn would soon follow.

She would show them all the lioness was just as dangerous as the lion.

------

(Kevan Lannister POV)

"Are you sure you heard this in King's Landing?!" Kevan asked seriously to the knight standing in front of him.

"Aye, My Lord. I've heard it about a dozen times in as many brothels." The knight confirmed, having relayed some troubling news.

"Damn them!" Kevan cursed.

He didn't believe the rumors himself, but not everyone shared his sentiments or line of thought. He knew that other Lords and Ladys would be quick to make their own rush to judgements, and not all of them would be good for his family.

The fact that the rumors spoke about his own son with his niece was cause enough for the rumors to be false. He wasn't much to look at, and he couldn't comprehend why Cersei would ever sleep with him when she had her pick of the servants and guards in King's Landing.

To him it sounded as though someone had it out for House Lannister. The timing of the events supported his speculation, as Tywin was gone.

If someone wanted to discredit House Lannister, doing it while Tywin was on the continent was akin to a death sentence, so spreading the lies when he wasn't there to defend their house only confirmed that someone was trying to go against them.

"Maester Creylen. Can you get a raven to my brother?" Kevan asked, hoping that he could get a message to Tywin, who happened to be in Braavos to meet with the Iron Bank.

"Aye, my Lord. It will take some time to reach him, but it will reach him." Maester Creylen answered, giving some bit of good news.

"Send word at once. Inform him to not to sail to King's Landing, but instead to Duskendale. Tell him that I think there is a plot on his life, and that I will meet him with a host of soldiers." Kevan ordered, causing more than a few eyes in the room to go wide in surprise.

"At once, my Lord." Maester Creylen said, then left the room to do as instructed.

Kevan had no proof that the rumors were true or false, but the fact that there were rumors in the first place did not bode well.

If by some chance the King took slight with the rumors and wished to do something about it, he would no doubt try to deal with the threat that was Tywin before he did anything.

Kevan's first thought was to protect his liege lord and brother, and then together they could settle this mess.

"How many men should we gather?" One of the Lords sitting at the table asked.

Kevan wanted to gather the full force of House Lannister to ride with him, but on the off chance that there was a threat moving towards Casterly Rock, he couldn't allow it to be defenseless. Not to mention that if he rode out with an army it could be seen as him causing more of a fuss than need be over baseless rumors.

"Prepare a host of 300 knights on horseback. Gather the supplies on packhorses as well. We'll move fast to meet up with Tywin, then meet up with our forces in King's Landing from Duskendale. While I'm gone, gather your men and fortify your keeps. Be prepared for the call to arms should the need arise." Kevan informed the Lords in the room, getting solemn nods of affirmation.

They didn't know who they were going up against, but everything pointed to someone having it in for their liege lord, and they would not stand idly by and let it happen.

"Gather the men. We leave in 3 days." Kevan ordered, then ended the meeting.

-----------

(Jon Arryn POV)

"Lord Orys Baratheon, black of hair. Axel Baratheon, black of hair. Lyonel Baratheon, black of hair. Steffon Baratheon, black of hair. Robert Baratheon, black of hair. Joffrey Baratheon, golden haired." Jon Arryn read from the book in front of him.

The book was 'The Lineage and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms' and it all but confirmed what Jon Arryn suspected.

'The rumors are true.' He thought darkly.

He knew what he would have to do, but he also knew what the outcome would be. Once he told Robert the news, he would kill Cersei and Jamie, the three little children, as well as the knights she was sleeping with.

The Lannister knights in King's Landing would either flee back to the Westerlands or they would cause chaos in the city, both of which were terrible outcomes.

There was no way Tywin Lannister would just sit back and let his children and grandchildren be slaughtered. Even if the man was fighting alone against the other kingdoms, Tywin could hurt them.

The man had a strategic mind for combat, and with enough planning he could possibly deal a blow to the Baratheons that would cripple them.

Trying to plan against Tywin made his head hurt, and Jon Arryn wondered how it ever came to this.

'It would be so much easier if Tywin was our prisoner...' He thought tiredly.

If they had Tywin, they could force the Westerlands to surrender before there was ever a fight, thus avoiding a war that was just on the horizon.

'It's too bad he's in Casterly-' The old Hand abruptly bolted up from his chair as he realized Tywin was in fact, not in Casterly Rock, but in Braavos.

'If we take Tywin when he lands, we stop any rebellion!' Lord Arryn thought excitedly, silently thanking the Gods for showing him some bit of mercy.

"My Love, are you well?" His wife, Lysa Tully spoke from the doorway.

"Aye! I've figured it out!" He told her happily, showing a rare moment where he didn't look miserable and worn out.

"That's wonderful my love! Have some wine." She said, handing him a large goblet of arbor gold wine, his favorite.

Without a second thought, Lord Arryn took a large gulp from the goblet, earning a smile from the woman beside him.