The Eagle

The eagle followed Edgar to the harbor and saw him embark on a galley. The eagle flew to one of the lower yards of the ship, landed there and continued to watch as the man struck up a conversation with the ship's captain.

The eagle was close enough to hear the conversation.

"Do you have the plans?" asked the captain, to which Edgar nodded his head. "And the Redwyne man?"

"Dealt with. Is the ship ready to go?"

"Aye, I gave the officers some gold coins to turn a blind eye."

Leaving port in the middle of the night is usually frowned upon because with low visibility the ship could collide with the dock or other ships.

"Good, order the men to prepare to sail. I want to get out of this town as soon as possible."

The captain ordered the sailors to untie the ship and raise the anchor, meanwhile Edgar entered a cabin. The eagle followed him with its eyes.

When the ship left the dock the eagle took flight.

***

On the roof of a building near the docks lies a boy with a white crystal in his hand. He has his eyes closed and is humming to himself.

A brown eagle landed a few steps from the boy and as soon as it put its claws on the ceiling its shape changed. Standing on the roof where the eagle used to be is now a naked man.

The man grabs the clothes that are piled up next to the boy and quickly gets dressed, after putting on his pants he lightly kicks the boy.

"I'm not asleep." The boy growls at him.

"Well you sure seemed so," the man jokes as he pulls on his shirt.

The boy opens his eyes and onyx spheres look annoyed at the knight while he puts on his breastplate.

"I'll never understand why you keep insisting on wearing a breastplate during these missions."

"For protection, my prince. At any moment something could go wrong and we could be involved in an altercation." He reminds his prince, Doran just sighs muttering something about stubborn knights.

After getting dressed, Lothar sits on the roof next to his prince and asks the following:

"How 's Alfy?"

"Well, a little stressed from the whole show."

"I'm not surprised. Alfy is a customs officer, not a spy; anyone would be stressed out dealing with that kind of scum."

"Customs officer, spy; who cares. A man can have more than one trade, and if a righteous knight such as yourself can get used to it, so can he."

Lothar hums in response, his gaze turning to the stars.

"Edgar, who does that bastard work for?"

Doran gets up and sits cross-legged.

"At first I thought he was a Redwyne but that was obviously ruled out when he killed Lady Redwyne's sworn shield."

"Only a house so noble and proud as the Redwynes would be foolish enough to send a sworn shield on a clandestine mission." Said Lothar snorting, Doran nods in agreement.

"Their stupidity helped us but now Ser Bryon is dead and Edgar boarded another ship. I didn't recognize its sail or any of the crew."

"Neither did I."

"What about the conversation Edgar had with the captain? What did they say?" Valyrian candles allow you to see a man a hundred miles away as if he were right in front of you but unfortunately they do not transmit sound.

"Not much." Lothar repeats word for word what the two men said to each other.

"So Edgar and the captain are in cahoots, so if we find out who the captain is that might give us a clue as to Edgar's employer."

"Or it could lead us directly to him."

"Yes, hopefully. Tom will be perfect for the task."

"No," Lothar shakes his head. "Tom is already investigating one of Marwyn's associates."

"Oh, I forgot. How's that investigation going, by the way?"

"He hasn't finished the report yet. Coming back to the matter at hand, you should give this task to Janna."

"Janna? Isn't she the manager of the Hogwarts Toy Company warehouse in Shadow City?" Doran asks, confused.

"That is Janna Sand, the Janna I'm talking about is the waitress at your Game House in Planky Town."

Seeing that his prince still doesn't know who he's talking about, Lothar continues.

"She was the one who discovered the Tyrell spy at the Planky Game House last year, the girl you hired when you risked your life during that epidemic." Lothar's voice hardens as he says the last.

"Ah, yes. I remember her. But this is a task of great importance, will she be up to it?"

"Tom's reports on her paint her in a very good light, it seems that she is well on her way to becoming one of his lieutenants."

"Fine, but have someone else do a side investigation. I don't want Edgar to escape."

"As you order, my prince." Lothar bows his head in respect. "Do you suspect anyone in particular?"

"Velaryon, the Crown, Tyrosh, Myr, it could be anyone."

"Yes, many want your ships."

Doran hums in response.

The two are silent for a few moments, the prince reaches into his shirt and pulls out an envelope. Opening it he takes out the plans of the caravel, after looking over them he crushes them in his hand and summons a ball of fire reducing them to ashes.

"Whoever Edgar's employer is will be disappointed when he opens the envelope."

***

Excerpt from the diaries of Prince Doran Nymeros Martell about his sworn shield:

Ser Lothar the Fierce: A great Dornish hero and one of the most famous knights in the history of Westeros.

To me Lothar was my closest confidant and one of my best friends. He was my protector, my most loyal knight.

Lothar was the son of a knight who died protecting my grandfather during the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion, so my grandmother took him and his sister in because the children's mother had already died.

In the year 246 AC Lothar became my father's squire and after becoming a knight my father assigned him as my sword shield, since then Lothar became my shadow.

When I found out how to awaken the dormant magic in people Lothar became Sunspear's second wizard. Years later my siblings asked me why Lothar, why not Lewyn or our parents. There were plenty of people I could trust whose magic I could have awakened but I chose Lothar.

My answer to those questions was the following: Lothar is my shadow, my protector. It just made sense.

In the year 256 AC I told Lothar my biggest secret, that I am a wizard. His response was to shrug and say that magic explains a lot of my quirks. That day I woke his magic.

Lothar became a Skinchanger, first learning to take the form of an eagle, and then many more animals. His favorite was always that of a griffin.