Chapter - 14

Petyr Baelish had not been having a good time ever since that blasted mage set foot in the capital. He was furious that his fake medicine-selling business, which was meant to bring him more coin, had crashed and his plan to steal the pills that the healer was supposed to bring had gone up in smoke. But now, he was glad he had been patient and not gone through with his more obvious plans of getting rid of the healer. He realized that those plans probably wouldn't have worked and he may have even been caught doing so.

He had been wanting to get rid of the healer ever since he had confirmed the rumors about him. His work was enriching the North by bringing in a huge influx of smallfolk and merchants who came there for his healing and that did not play well into his plans.

The latest incident in the capital had caused a lot of turmoil, he hadn't felt such fear for his life ever since Brandon Stark had nearly killed him years ago; his spies had not given him any indication that he was capable of such feats. It had been unexpected but the incident did give him an opportunity to sow discord in the North.

He had sent a raven to Catelyn after he had first heard rumors about the sorcerer and subtly asked her to confirm them. She had given him a lot of information about the mage. He had been feeding her unease about the mage, but that had stopped working a few moons back after the mage had apparently cured her youngest spawn of his fever.

But now that the entire capital had felt what the mage was capable of, he could use that to his advantage. He would send a version of the story that subtly painted the healer as someone who attacked the followers of the Seven. 'Yes, that should work perfectly,' Baelish thought to himself with a sly grin.

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Cersei Lannister slammed the door shut behind the last of the servants, leaving her alone with her brother Jamie. She paced the room, her hands twitching as she struggled to control the terror that still gripped her heart.

"Cersei, what's wrong?" Jamie asked, concern etched on his face. "I felt that… dread too, but you seem to be taking it much harder."

She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "That mage... he... he unleashed his powers and it was... it was terror like I've never felt before."

"I was going to go and take care of him," Jamie said, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "But you stopped me. Why? He might be able to use magic but I highly doubt he would be able to cast any spells with a blade sticking out of his gut"

"No, Jamie." Cersei said, her voice shaking. "You didn't see what I saw. The entire mob that the septon had riled up just fell to their knees in terror. He was never bothered by them. He could have just killed them as easily. If you go charging in with your sword, you will meet the same fate. He needs to be dealt with in other ways - with poison or assassins. But first, we have to kick him out of my city. I won't be able to sleep in peace knowing that he is that close to us."

"You're right," Jamie said, his expression grim. "We can't let him pose a threat to our rule. I'll send a raven to father and maybe even hire the Faceless Men to take care of him."

"Yes, that's exactly what we need to do," Cersei said, her determination returning. "We can't let him continue to do whatever he wants in my kingdom and threaten us."

Cersei sat down in her chair, her mind racing with thoughts of how to protect her children and her throne from that feral mage. She would make him feel the same fear that she had felt. After all, a Lannister always pays their debts.

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After my conversation with the Hand, I set out from the Red Keep and headed towards the Kingswood, where I sensed Fenrir was taking a nap.

The talk had been honestly different from what I had expected. The Hand was not what I thought he would be, and it was clear why he was able to overthrow the Targaryen's and keep the kingdom running smoothly under a seemingly uninterested king. He was able to analyze the curveball I had thrown at people's belief and understanding of power, and adapted to it in just a few hours.

That's why I threw another curveball at him, to see how he would handle it. If he isn't careful in dealing with Baelish, he might not make it to the start of the plot. Speaking of Baelish, that sneaky little weasel was starting to annoy me. Firstly, his face was one of those that just automatically made you want to punch him, and secondly, I found out that it was he who was selling the fake pills in my name. He had made a significant amount of money in the short time it took me to come here, so I set Jon Arryn on his tail. He was totally going to be on his case from now on.

That was only half of my revenge. The next part was just mostly for my amusement. Since the hundreds of rats I had spread throughout the city were idle after completing their previous task. I sent them to find where Littlefinger had hidden all the gold he had stolen. It was surprisingly easy, as rats are excellent diggers. They quickly uncovered where he had buried the gold. It was directly under his brothels… Now that was just lazy, I doubt it was all of it but it was enough to make him start panicking.

I then instructed the rats to move the gold to a different part of the city and bury it somewhere in a deeper hole that only I could find, in case I needed the gold in the future. I took a few hundred gold coins for myself, just in case I needed to spend it somewhere..

I had accomplished all my objectives in King's Landing, and more. I hadn't given much thought to what the king would reward me for my services, but owning the forested mountain would prove extremely useful for my private, grisly experiments without fear of discovery. I doubt

Stark would refuse me, considering he still owed me a favor for the glass-making process.

Legally owning my own experimental grounds would help avoid problems when others start poking their noses into my business, and more importantly It would be the best place to create and raise my dragon.

Now, all I had to do in the capital was probably present myself in the throne room to receive my reward and politely be told to fuck off.

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Walking into the Small Council chamber which looked more packed than normal, Robert Baratheon lets his annoyance be known to everyone the moment he sits down. "I haven't been called to this many meetings since the rebellion. What the hell is the matter now?"

"You know what, that's a stupid question, I know exactly what the matter is about."

His shrew of a wife is the first to start screeching "You must have this mage put to death. He used such malicious magic on the entire city. Who knows what he'll do next?" She abandons her typical covert insults and openly attacks the mage.

He couldn't see why she was overreacting so much. He himself had felt the wave of fear, but he was quite far away from the market. It was pretty similar to the feeling he got when he was in the middle of a hunt or battle, so it only took him a few moments to shrug it off. But after looking at the state of the mob, with most of them trembling on their knees and pissing themselves, he realized that maybe the ones closest to the mage probably took the brunt of it.

The mage had not appeared to have cast a powerful spell. He was just standing in front of them nonchalantly, completely unperturbed by everything going on around him, as if he knew there was no way anyone in the city could touch a single hair on his head.

He still remembered the conversation he had with Selmy after their first meeting with the mage.

"That's something I've noticed about the mage too, Selmy. There's something odd about the way he acts." he said.

"I've noticed that too, Your Grace. What's unsettling about him is that he walks around with complete abandon, especially in the Red Keep. I've never seen anyone act so carelessly," Selmy replied.

"Why do you think that is?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, Your Grace, but my guess is that either he doesn't care if he lives or dies or he's completely confident that nothing in King's Landing can harm him… Knowing his abilities, it's probably the latter," Selmy said.

After that enlightening conversation, he started paying more attention to the mage's behavior and came to the same conclusion. Nobody walked around the Red Keep with that level of self-confidence, and the smile that was always present on his face seemed to imply that he knew something that nobody else did.

Returning to the present, he noticed that the cunt was still speaking, so he slammed his hand on the table to silence her because he had heard enough.

"You have made your point very clear to everyone at this table; now stop bloody screaming.

What are you even doing in a Small Council meeting? Last I checked, you don't have a seat here."

Cersei rears her head back as if she's physically struck "I am the Queen of the Sev- "

"And I am the bloody King, so either sit down and keep your mouth shut or I'll have you thrown out." He roars back at her.

"If anyone else has any bright ideas to execute the mage who has merely followed my orders and defended himself against idiots without causing any physical harm, go ahead, but make sure to inform him that you are acting independently so that the rest of the city is not held accountable for your foolishness."

"So, Cersei, go ahead. I know you want to execute him. Send the Kingslayer to challenge him to a trial by combat." he taunted.

Cersei falls silent and sits down, seething with anger. He would have been worried about getting stabbed in his sleep, but they haven't slept in the same room for a long time.

Seeing her finally shut up and no one else willing to speak he says "That's what I thought. Now, is there anything else we need to discuss, or are we done?"

That's when Jon starts, "One last matter, Robert. I had a quite enlightening conversation with the mage just before this meeting, where I discussed the rewards with him."

"I thought we agreed to give him a lordship of his choosing."

"Well, I thought it would be better to just ask him what he wanted."

"What does he want then?"

"He doesn't want a lordship where he would have to be responsible for the people under his care. He told me he would much rather have the deed for an uninhabited forest in the north."

He frowns. "I can understand him not wanting to deal with people, but shouldn't that be something he needs to discuss with Ned first?"

"Yes, he told me he's planning on talking to Ned about that, but having the crown's approval would help him get it faster."

"Fine, write up something saying that as long as Ned agrees, he can have his forest. Wait, does that mean he's planning on leaving soon?" He asks, sounding intrigued.

"Yes, he informed me that he has duties to attend to in the north and doesn't want to cause any further trouble with the Faith in the city," Jon explains.

"He's at least considerate. If only his departure would silence the Faith's whining," he says, sounding frustrated.

He gets up from his seat. "That's all the patience I have for today. I need a drink now."

As he exits the room with Barristan following him, he thinks, 'Maybe it's time for a private chat with the mage. If Jon's words are true, it will be interesting, at the very least.'