2 Chapter 2

The king's envoy and the Starks set up their camp at the Inn at the Crossroads. A popular inn for travelling as it lay by the crossroads marking the joining of the Kingsroad, River Road and the High Road.

One thing that Edwyn benefited from being neglected was the freedom he got. There were no duties that he was supposed to perform nor was he constantly mothered by Cersei.

Going over to the woods, Edwyn wrapped his hands with strips of cloth that were made heavier by seals. Similarly, he had his shins wrapped with weighted cloth.

He quickly found a tree with a thick trunk and began punching and kicking it with utter fluidity. Edwyn was frighteningly strong. So the wrappings around his hands and shin weighed several hundreds of pounds.

The poor tree stood no chance as Edwyn pounded it till the trunk was thrashed off and only a stump was left rooted into the ground. Sighing, he moved towards the next tree.

Edwyn was on his fifth tree when he heard a commotion nearby. Intrigued, he made his way towards the source of the noise and found his half-brother Joffrey showing his superiority towards a nine or ten-year-old kid, who was actually Arya Stark.

A fat and timid boy was shaking in his boots, Arya's wolf was snarling at Joffrey and Sansa Stark was failing in her miserable attempts to stop things from escalating. Edwyn sighed and walked away from the situation. There was no need to get involved in Joffrey's another bout of madness. When he thought about what the Starks had gotten themselves involved in, all he felt was indifference.

'Why the fuck should I care?'

Later that day he heard that Sansa's dire wolf was ordered to be killed by the king himself. Edwyn suddenly had an evil idea in his mind and walked towards Ned Stark who was returning to his tent.

"Lord Stark, I see you've returned after slaying a defenceless beast, that too, a beast that represents your house."

Ned's head snapped towards him and growled, "I ask you not to mention it, prince Edwyn."

Edwyn tilted his head and smirked, "Oh? It seems you're not too happy doing as the king said. It's like every king has something against you Starks. The last king killed your father and brother while this one went for the animal of your sigil. I don't know what madness took over you that you agreed to become his hand."

Ned narrowed his eyes and said, "What are you insinuating?"

Edwyn chuckled and replied, "King's Landing is a cesspit of corruption and politics. Every day someone is plotting some other person's death. The lion has it's jaw around the stag's neck. The wolf needs to abandon what defines him if he wants to survive. Sometimes, you need to look beyond what you see, Lord Stark."

As Ned thought about what Edwyn had said, the red-eyed prince continued, "Have you ever wondered why I wasn't made the crown prince?"

'Come on Stark, let me know if you are worthy of my respect.'

Lord Stark stared intently at Edwyn and nodded, "I already know why."

"And do you agree with it?"

Ned stared into Edwyn's eyes and replied, "Aye."

All kind of warmth left Edwyn eyes as it was replaced with cold fury.

In an icy tone and with barely controlled anger, Edwyn said, "I see. Huh! To think I had respect for you. We shall never talk again. As my parting words to you, I say this. Your decision to be the hand of the king will be your doom."

Edwyn stormed away as he finished saying what he wanted to.

'... This time the tourney will be bloody. I hope I face some Stark men.'

(NAGOT)

As the envoy arrived at King's Landing, Edwyn sped away on his horse with the city watch giving him wide berths of space.

When Ned Stark entered the gates of King's Landing, he could hear distant cheers resonating with each other from every direction.

He asked the men of the city watch abut it.

"What are the people cheering for? What is this, Maelstrom?"

One of the men immediately answered, "Lord Hand, the common folk gave prince Edwyn this name after they saw him in the first tourney. He is very much liked by the people of King's Landing. All kinds of criminal activities have drastically reduced since he began patrolling the streets. He even helps the poor with food and clothing."

When Ned was about to say something, the man from city watch continued, "Lord Hand, the small council is awaiting your arrival in the council chambers. Perhaps you should wear something more... appropriate?"

But a glare from Ned shut the man up.

As Ned made his way to the Red keep, Edwyn was fighting some rapists in flea bottom who had managed to evade the city guard.

He sighed and shook his head as he twisted a man neck, "Slynt, why the fuck aren't you properly doing your duty? The Queen's protection won't be enough to stop me from sending you to an early grave."

The said man whimpered and fell down on his knees, "Your Grace! Please! I am loyal to your family! Just give me another chance!"

Edwyn gently rubbed Slynt's bald head with his armoured hand as the coward man shivered in fear, "Every time these men were raping women and children, it was always you who arrived at the scene of the crime. They have been able to evade justice because you always arrived after they were done with their victims..."

Edwyn drew Slynt's sword from its scabbard and inspected it while increasing the speed at which he was rubbing Slynt's head.

"Hmm, the handle is made of pure gold while the blade was forged from very high-grade steel. Your pay as the captain of the city guard isn't nearly enough for you to get such a sword for yourself. Are you questioning my intelligence? These rapists paid you to avoid them, didn't they? You're loyal only to yourself and to gold."

Slynt began screaming in pain as the chainmail covered hand of Edwyn began cutting and tearing at his scalp. When he was about to run, two men grabbed his arms and held him down as Edwyn continued to rub his scalp off.

Slynt's screams attracted a crowd and soon, hundreds of common folk began demanding justice when they were told by other bystanders about why Slynt was being punished.

When Slynt's scalp was completely peeled off his skull, Edwyn stopped and allowed the man to fall.

Edwyn stood up and spoke loud for everyone to hear, "By taking bribes from criminals, you condemned their victims to lives worse than death. Your loyalty lies with none, not the king, not King's Landing and not Westeros. You are a traitor to your oaths and your duties towards the people of King's Landing. For that, you deserve a traitor's death."

Slynt wailed and begged for mercy but his screams fell on deaf ears. Edwyn quickly ordered the other men of the city watch to strip Slynt off his clothes. Then, they held him down as one man carved the word 'Traitor' on his chest.

"Yours and these criminals' corpses will be left for everyone to see. It shall be a warning for anyone who even thinks of committing a crime this grievous."

Slynt, along with the rapists were nailed on the walls, their cocks were cut off and nailed on their heads. Edwyn ordered to sell Slynt's sword for the highest price and distribute to money among the victims or their immediate families along with all of his fortune.

(NAGOT)

As usual, the melee was being dominated by Edwyn. Only this time, there was far more blood than any of the previous tournaments. The other participants were so scared that most of them withdrew after they saw Edwyn cut multiple Stark men with a single move.

It took less than an hour for the melee to end with Edwyn as the winner. He had no interest in archery and jousting tournaments. So, there he was, sitting in front of the Starks and other masters of the small council as he watched the pillow biter Tyrell showboating on his horse.

Sansa Stark was openly fawning over the Tyrell even though she was betrothed to Joffrey. Right when the Tyrell's fellow pillow biter was about to sing praises of him, Edwyn interjected, "Careful, little Stark. You're to marry my younger brother. It won't do well for you to fall for someone else. Loras Tyrell isn't that great a knight anyway..."

He glanced over to Arya Stark and continued, "Tell me, little wolf, do you see anything different in the horse Tyrell is riding as he's about to face Clagane?"

Arya just shook her head and stared at him with wide eyes. She had obviously seen him fight in the melee and even though he killed men who belonged to her house, his swordplay had been mindblowing.

Edwyn continued, "Tyrell isn't riding a horse at all. Instead, it's a mare. That too, one in heat. He knows he can't beat Clagane in strength. So he's using other tactics to increase his chances of winning. Not very knight-like is he?"

As Edwyn had said, Loras Tyrell managed to dismount Gregor Clagane and paraded around on his mare as the winner of the joust. Right when he was about to crown Sansa as the most beautiful maiden, Clagane roared in rage and beheaded his horse with his sword. Then, he marched towards Loras and attacked him with a mighty swing.

The crowd gasped in shock and some even whipped their heads away, not wanting to see the young man die at the hands of 'The Mountain'.

'CLANG'

A loud sound of steel striking against steel echoed around in the silent arena. What they saw made their eyes grow impossibly wide. Edwyn had blocked Gregor's two-handed swing with a languidly held sword and the prince was looking absolutely bored. Loras, meanwhile, had fallen on the ground and was staring at Edwyn in wonder and a hint of relief.

"Stay in your limits, dog." Edwyn started. "We don't want to start a war with the Reach."

Then, he pushed Clagane away and actually made him fall on his butt. Further angered at being shown up by a teenager, even though it was Edwyn, Clagane charged at him in mad rage.

Edwyn simply side-stepped and grabbed the back of Clagane's armour. With no effort whatsoever, Edwyn lifted Clagane off his feet and tossed him at his dead horse, much to the surprise and awe of the crowd.

Even the king himself was stupified at Edwyn's show of strength. Robert knew that his firstborn was strong. But, to think he was strong enough to lift and toss someone as huge as Gregor Clagane away with just a single hand was downright terrifying.

There was complete silence in the arena. Even Gregor Clagane was looking at Edwyn in awe and fear. Then, like a storm, the common folk cheered.

'Maelstrom!'

'Maelstrom!'

'Maelstrom!'

.

.

.

The nobles were taken aback by the cheers being showered at Edwyn. That was the moment Robert knew that he had to get rid of Edwyn sooner rather than later. His resolve was set. Edwyn was not his son. He was simply a demon.