Chapter 35: Act III: Chapter 16

Hello everyone,

I have a pretty big announcement to make that some of you may enjoy, and others may not care. I have decided to pick up two of my stories and put them on a schedule. 'Defiant' (Naruto) and Tsunami of the South (Avatar: The Last Airbender) have been put on the same schedule as this story! I can guarantee at least 2 chapters a month but I plan on overdelivering! In fact, there are already 2 chapters posted on the website below ready to go. In the next few days I will post chapters on this site to announce it in the actual story!

This is going to mean more production on this story as well. So expect a little more frequent posting!

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"People of Tyrosh!"

I found myself standing in front of a crowd that covered the streets as far as my eyes could see. I was reminded of the time I stood on top of Myr's walls, addressing my people.

So much has changed since then…

This time, I was not on top of a wall and I was not in Myr. But my message would be very similar. I stood on a hastily erected stage with drapes that held the banner of my house stitching. The white weirwood tree with the branches in the shape of a dragon on a black field was both beautiful, and a warning to my enemies.

"I know there have been rumors of me in the city. Rumors that your previous rulers wielded with the intentions of turning me into your enemy!"

My voice echoed off of the buildings around me, carrying unnaturally far for this many people. I paused for a moment, and I saw some of my agents further down in the crowd, repeating what I spoke for the people too far to hear me. I also had another agent writing down my words, to be repeated for the public speakers throughout the night and the next few days.

"I am not your enemy!"

I paused once again and spread my arms wide, turning to the whole of the people surrounding me. I waited for the words to spread because I really wanted the people to understand that message.

"Your leaders did not like that I freed my people in Myr! They feared that you would see our success and happiness. They feared that you would want the same! When I received word that Tyrosh had erected a force to attack us I was appalled! Why would they hate our success, I asked myself!"

I turned to the people standing on the platform with me. Davos' arm was in a sling and he looked worse for wear, but he was alive from the battle and that was the important part. He wore immaculate clothes that I had forced onto him. Ben was also there in immaculate clothing of black and red. I knew there was a reason for those colors and I was excited to reveal it to the public.

I ignored the small murmur of comments that rang throughout the crowd.

"It's because they feared you!" I pointed to the crowd.

"They feared that you would also want to be freed from your corrupt masters. They feared that you would demand more food, like my people have! They feared that you would demand money for the labor you provide, like my people receive! They could not give you land like I have my people."

"There are 500,000 people in this city! Most of you are slaves!"

I waited for that to set in.

"No longer!" I roared in an animated manner.

Agents carefully placed in the crowd by myself, started a cheer as my words reached their ears. The people of Tyrosh mimicked my agents, and soon there was a massive roar that the entire city could hear.

"I claim Tyrosh from your corrupted masters!"

Another, smaller roar.

"And there are no slaves in my kingdom! Only freedmen!"

That time the roar was so loud and lasted so long that I had to hold my hand up to stop them. In the past three days since the end of the battle the people had waited with a baited breath. The rumors had spread amongst the slave community that I would free them.

Those rumors were not random.

The masters had been unusually harsh on the slaves because of those rumors. More were whipped than normal. Their bodies could be seen hanging from the walls. The word 'slavers' had been carved into their chests as a warning. It had stopped the beatings extremely quickly.

So when I roared my last sentence, the slaves of the city had been affirmed by me. As if it was ever a question.

"Tear the collars from your necks! And if your masters punish you, come to me and I will see them hanging from the walls!"

The crowd loved that one, and food was thrown into the air above them to accompany the screams of the people. I paced back and forth on the podium, allowing them their time to celebrate, and act like fools.

How odd was it that people's character can completely change when in a crowd. We truly were social beings. They would blindly follow along with the man beside them, uncaring of the consequences. When asked why they did the things they did, they would simply reply 'Everyone else was doing it…'

I held a hand up, and the crowd quieted down a bit.

"Commander Ben!" I yelled, pointing to the man behind me.

He stepped forward obediently. There was a smirk on his face where he was trying to hide his smile.

"Kneel!" I roared and shifted my finger to point at the ground beneath me.

Ben did as I asked, and he dramatically drew his sword before dropping to his right knee holding his sword in his hands as an offering to me.

"Due to your heroic actions during the Battle of Tyrosh I hereby grant you Lordly status amongst my realm. You may take a name of your choosing and you may fly your own banner."

I paused, as the crowd clapped and hooray'd at the situation.

"You have been by my side since I had nothing but small hold on the eastern coast of Westeros. You stood by my side when others cursed my name and my deeds. WE TOOK KINGS LANDING TOGETHER!"

As I yelled the last part, I drew my own sword dramatically.

"For your undying loyalty, I hereby name you Lord of Tyrosh and defender of the Stepstones. Do you accept your new title and swear to defend the western borders of my realm?"

I laid my sword on his left shoulder as I asked the question. He had his head down during most of the ceremony, as was proper. But he only thought that I would grant him a surname and the status of a Lord. He did not know that I meant to name him Lord of Tyrosh and the Stepstones.

His head looked up to me with surprise in his eyes and written all over his face. I smiled down at him and nodded.

"I do, My King!" He exclaimed as he laid his head back down and looked at the ground. He was shaken by the offer I could tell. It made me happy to surprise my oldest friend.

He deserves this, and more.

I dipped my sword on his right side, then on the left before speaking.

"Rise Lord Ben Redscale, Lord of Tyrosh and defender of the Stepstones, and look upon your new people!"

I pointed my sword to the crowd and waved it, gesturing to the masses below.

Ben did as I told him to the roar of the crowd, and with a look of wonder and amazement on his face. He had already told me of the surname he had chosen to take and I couldn't find it more appropriate.

I smiled along with him as the crowds below chanted at him.

"Redscale!"

"Redscale!'

"Redscale!"

"Red dragon on a black field, not very original you know." I smirked as I teased Ben about his new flag.

The sounds of metal hitting metal, and death could be heard around us.

He chuckled. "Well at least it doesn't have three heads." He answered with a shrug.

We sidestepped one of our men thrusting a spear into the neck of a household guard and continued walking down the street towards the manor in front of us.

"I still think we'll get a visit from Viserys soon. He'll demand our power, our dragons." I told him as my feet began taking us up stairs towards our destination.

All around us, Myrish soldiers could be seen surrounding the compound. Fighting was still going on near us, but there were maybe a hundred guards of the people we were going to see, and I had brought an army. Most likely, those inside didn't even know we were here.

We were almost near the exact center of the city. Red clayed buildings with the embroidery of the fire priests could be seen all over the place. It was no surprise to me that this was where treachery started in Tyrosh, as it had done the same in Myr.

"What do you want to do with him?" Ben asked.

"Capture him. I'll send him back to Robert or Oberyn perhaps. I haven't decided." I answered truthfully.

"What did they name the latest one?" Ben asked, talking about the protagonist turned antagonist of Game of Thrones.

"Danaerys." I told him as we passed through the first gate that led into the Temple. It was a bit of foyer that wrapped all the way around the dome shaped temple.

I sidestepped a thrust from a red robed man. A blade of immaculate design passed where my throat would have been if I hadn't moved. Runes danced down the center of the gleaming blade drawing my eye.

Ben's leg kicked toward the man's knee, although it didn't hit. It did give me enough time to draw my own blade and thrust towards the priest.

He was fast to react, and deflected my blade with his.

A high pitched wail sounded out into the air from the blades meeting. That was the first time that I had ever heard Valyrian Steel on Valyrian Steel. It was almost enough to distract me from his counter slash, but I turned my chest and it barely missed.

Ben took advantage of the man's aggression and his sword stabbed him in the hip. I stepped forward to press with a slash that would have opened up his throat. The Valyrian blades screamed again as he blocked Heartsbane.

Unfortunately, Ben was too skilled to not take the opening that I had given him and his sword pierced the man's heart and passed out the other side.

I stepped in and pried the sword from his hands as he fell. It slipped from his fingers, as his soul did from this world. As his back hit the ground I was handing Ben the blade, hilt first.

He stared at it for a moment before he took it. It was a greatsword like my own, but not as wide as Heartsbane near the hilt. It had a plain blade outside of the runes, and the hilt was in the shape of cross. It was undeniably beautiful.

I allowed him to twirl it a bit and get used to the weight before I knelt to the priest below me and unbelted the sword belt from his waist. Ben could have another made in the future if he wanted, but for now we knew it would fit the blade.

He accepted the sheath and belt before strapping it on his waist. When I looked around, my men had flooded through the other doors and subdued the rest of the priests, of which there were few. The men inside the next chamber had banked on their guards outside, and the priests were a last line of defense.

I walked forward with Heartsbane in my hand and planted my boot on the door, near the handle. It gave way with the cracking of wood and opened to the inside of the temple proper.

It was a Roman auditorium style building that sank into the ground towards a stage. The seats nearest to the stage were taken up by around twenty men of different dyed hair and fine robes of silk.

This was a meeting of the Masters of the city, a similar ruling class to Myr. They were meeting to plan an assassination of myself and Ben. They had sealed their fate and I was grateful for the gift they had given me.

"This is a meeting of the Conclave of Tyrosh. You have no business here!"

"I am Tyrosh's King! Everything is my business!" I practically roared back.

The other doors to the room burst open and my soldiers poured forth into the pews. In under a minute, they were surrounding the room and had a spear pointed at everyone in the Conclave.

"Tyrosh has no king." It was the Red Priest of the Temple that replied to me. He stood in the center of the raised stage, and my scrying of the room earlier in the afternoon told me that he was the main perpetrator of the assassination.

Why must the Red Priests plot my downfall so? If I don't have a holy war soon, it will be a blessing.

"It has an Archon, chosen by us!" One, obviously dyed, blonde haired man yelled from the other side of the room. He was old and fat.

I smiled at all of them before I began laughing.

"I thank you all for this gift, I really do. You've made it so easy for me in the future." I told them as I sheathed my sword to my waist.

Confusion spread throughout the Conclave. They had literally given me the perfect cover to wipe them out. How much easier could it get?

"For the crimes of plotting my assassination, and practicing slavery despite my decree earlier today. I sentence you to death, right now." I chopped my hand forward, in a universal signal that all of my soldiers knew.

I had purposefully chosen former slaves for this mission. When I said that last line, I was manipulating the men around me to think I was justified in what I just commanded.

In reality, the Conclave had already agreed to free their slaves, and pay them measly wages for the foreseeable future. They thought they would enslave them monetarily, and raise prices to make sure that nothing really changed.

So I had just told a little white lie that nobody would ever call me out on, because they wouldn't be alive to tell it.

The spears of my men killed the Conclave of Tyrosh, just as they had killed the Magisters of Myr. In Myr, it had led to a more stable city, and I knew it would produce the same result in Tyrosh.

Ben's new Valyrian steel blade lay on the table in front of us. He had already twirled it about, showing the rest of the council that was here. Of course, that only consisted of Davos, Ben, and I.

"Any word on Lys?" I asked, mainly directing the question to Davos.

"No your grace." Davos answered. "The Gonfaloneire fled with his fleet once the white flag was raised on the walls."

I grunted. "Hn. We should pursue quickly." I said aloud. "Begin the preparations tonight. We'll leave 2000 men for Ben in the city. The others we'll take to Lys."

"I am staying?" Ben asked as he let his displeasure show on his face.

"Yes. You need to be seen in the city as it's new Lord." I answered quickly. My mind was made up about the topic.

"I am a better general than I am a Lord." Ben retorted. "Let me take Lys for you as I did…"

"No." I interrupted him. "You were with me when we dealt with the fires of Myr. You were there when we calmed the masses and won their loyalty. I only trust you and Davos with the task, and I need Davos to lead our navy to Lys. I don't expect there to be a massive battle with a lot of glory Ben. Lys is a pleasure house, not a warrior's den."

Ben clenched his jaw. He wanted to protest more, but he wouldn't. Not when I had already shut him down.

"You are the best at administrative work, Petyr. I am a soldier. I don't know how to save this city without you." Ben told me. He did not use aggression this time, but vulnerability.

I let a moment pass without saying anything. I could not lead him by his hand in his new role. He would have to make his own mistakes and then fix them himself. Although I already had a plan to help him tremendously.

"Why did I eliminate the Conclave Ben?" I asked simply.

"Because they were slavers, and they were planning to have you killed." Ben answered what he knew. Bless his heart he was a warrior, and he was still very young.

"They were slavers yesterday. Today, the Conclave reached an agreement to release the slaves, pay them small wages and increase prices across the board for all of Tyrosh. They would make more money and still obey my decree. It was a smart decision on their part." I corrected him.

"So why did you sentence them to die?" Ben asked with a frown on his face and fiddling with his new sword.

"Because they were all in one place, and we need the Conclave to be a thing of the past. You are Tyrosh's Lord and you don't need others getting in your way. They hold massive economic advantages over you and could bankrupt you before you got the city back on its feet." I answered, turning and pointing at his chest while looking deep in his eyes.

"I killed them not for their crimes but because they would cause problems in the future. The crime was a convenient way to execute them." I clarified, making sure he understood what I was telling him.

He continued to frown at me for a moment before he nodded like he understood.

"Why are you telling me this?" Ben asked.

"Because I need you to understand the lengths you should be prepared to go, for our people. Those fat merchants would have made the common man's life hell in response to my decrees. This will level the playing field a little bit more. This will give the slaves a better chance to make something of their lives. Everything you do for this city, you do not do it for yourself but for the people, you understand?"

Ben once again nodded, yet his frown remained. I made a decision right then before I walked off.

"Good. At the heart of it, that's the motivation for every decision you make with the city. What do it's people need right now?" I asked him, trying to lead him to the direction I would take the city.

"A strong leader, someone not afraid to enforce the decree's you've set." Ben answered.

"Yes. They also need information. Where is the city going? Where is the food going to come from? What should the slaves do when their masters kick them to the streets? You know all of these answers, yes?" I asked.

He nodded to me immediately. He had seen me lead Myr through those same problems. He knew the answers.

Maybe I will give him some direction.

"Good. We already have public speakers. Tell the people what they want to know."

Myr looked the same that it did when I left it. It was absolutely bustling with activity.

While that was a good sign, that was not what I was here for. I shot forward, over the city towards the tallest tower in the city. I flew forward to the stone wall and knew exactly which floor to enter as I had done it a thousand times before.

When I phased through the wall I was met with the sight of my solar, or office, or the place where I conquered paperwork. Except it wasn't me sitting at my desk. This time it was Ashara, my raven haired wife. Her hand was busy writing on the paper beneath her. It looked to be like the last few pages of the day that she had to work through.

I set my feet on the floor and walked over to the chair in front of the desk before sitting down and watching her.

"Almost there…" She muttered as she continued to scribble on the page. Once she was done she slammed the paper onto a bigger stack and began rubbing her hand.

I smiled as I remembered doing the exact same motions myself at the end of every day. Her hair was braided in such a way that kept it out of her way even when she was hunched over paperwork all day.

She stayed that way for a while, just resting and occasionally looking around the room. Her eyes began to close in the seat and I knew she was about to fall asleep. I couldn't help but laugh and feel bad for her.

"Have I put too much on you, my love?" I wondered aloud, even though I knew she couldn't hear me.

"You overwork yourself, my queen."

I looked to see a random guard walking forward. He was a handsome man, with a good build and sword on his waist. I recognized him as a warrior of some renown, yet I never bothered to learn his name. He was one of the many guards assigned to Ashara.

She did not respond to him but she did look at him before closing her eyes. It was obvious to me that she was annoyed with his presence and didn't want to talk to him. Yet he continued to walk forward.

A bit of anger spiked in my chest. With the anger came a traitorous thought. And then a spike of hurt as I considered a possibility I never thought I would.

Why are they so familiar?

Soon enough, he stood over her in a manner that made me want to rip his intestines out with my bare hands. He smiled at her, and a gloved hand reached out to brush a lock of unbraided hair behind his ear.

"No, no, no, no…" I muttered as I stood up and moved forward.

Ashara's eyes snapped open. She frowned as she realized what was happening, and then her eyes softened. She looked at him like she looked at me.

That was the moment I knew it was true. That was the moment my heart broke as I realized Ashara and this man, this guard, had been intimate.

"What the fuck Ashara!" I yelled, knowing that nobody could see or hear me.

The doors at the front of the room opened and I turned my head to see two more guards enter the room and cross the distance to the two of them. The guard wisely retracted his hand from her face and stepped back now that they didn't have privacy. He obviously didn't trust his fellows.

"We must get you to safety my Queen, there has been a…"

The guard drew his sword and in a motion that was obviously practiced and he slashed in the same motion at the man that had touched Ashara. The slice opened the man's throat up on his left side, nearly cutting his neck in two. Ashara's lover fell to the ground holding his neck trying to stop the blood from pouring out of his neck.

My hurt and panic turned to worry over Ashara. Were the newcomers assassins sent to kill her? Either way I was happy to see the man perish in front of me, but I regretted that it wasn't me that did it.

Then something that I didn't expect to happen, happened.

Ashara spit on the body of the man. "What did I tell you would happen if you touched me again, you filth?!"

Immediately I became confused.

"I am no whore Queen. Did you really think that I would fuck you because I disagree with some of my husbands policies? You are the dumbest cunt I have ever met." She raged at the cooling body on the ground for a moment, showing her Dornish mouth and savagery.

Relief unlike any I had ever felt before coursed through my veins. The hurt and pain from earlier was pushed out and away from me. I had completely misread the situation, and I felt horrible for it.

"Thank you for your quick action." She told the guard that swung the blade.

"We came when we heard his voice, just as you asked." The man responded as he knelt on the ground and wiped his blade off on the cloak of the man he killed. He said nothing else before standing up and going back towards his post at the front of the door.

I stood there and stared at the dead man on the ground as Ashara went off and called for a servant to clean up the situation.

Is that our perception? That Ashara isn't happy with our marriage? With me?

The notion hurt me deeply, and caused me to replay every conversation I had with her recently. Nothing stood out as something that was worth worrying over. We had sex regularly, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that she loved that. We hadn't had any big fights since the one about the Bill of Rights.

But I will admit that I had been busy, and possibly distant from her. I vowed to remedy that as soon as I could.

I should have known that she would never be unfaithful to me. I should have known that without a doubt. Even in the situation that I found her in.

With a thought, the landscape changed and instead of being in Myr, I was holding a small potted weirwood tree and sitting on a rocking ship. I quickly stood up and walked outside of my cabins to the main deck of the ship where sailors were doing a multitude of tasks.

We have to take Lys, and then I must return home.

A/N: Boom!

Ben finally got what he deserved! He's been a faithful friend to Petyr and it was his plan that took the city. Do you guys think this was a good reward? Was it too much? Too little?

What about how he handled the Conclave?

Petyr would have wiped them out quickly regardless of the circumstance. He just seized an opportunity when it came. He has a formula for taking a city, and he knows that the ruling class needs to go, or at least be set back a generation. As much as he is giving the city to Ben, he is really just delegating.

What did we think about that insight with Ashara?

Let's talk in the reviews!