CHAPTER 11

Finally back...

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'And you are number eighty seven,' Percy thought as he sneaked up behind a lone guard within the long dreary passageways of the Citadel. As soon as he got behind the man who was physically larger than him, he placed his left palm on his mouth and stabbed his unarmored waist with a long black needle after squashing him against the wall.

The man struggled and thrashed wildly for about ten seconds before he slumped down. It took a lot of effort just to make him not make a single noise that would alert the others. Percy gently lowered the man t the ground and searched his body for anything out of place. Not that he was expecting anything from these poor sods, but it couldn't hurt to be vigilant. What Percy was searching for was keys that were in the possession of these guards. He could easily break through doors with magic, but that only meant more work for him and he was on a rather tight schedule.

Percy had to thank his physique as he was able to easily overpower men who were double his size. Now that he had passed his sixteenth nameday, all the changes that his body had been undergoing seemed to slow down exponentially. There had been many cosmetic changes such as their deviation from the classic 'Stark' looks, but it was his frightening strength that astonished anybody outside their family. It took many by surprise as they were not expecting his startling strength in a slim figure like his. He still had the same athletic body as he did in his previous life which was quite different from the burly physiques of both his father and elder brother Charles, but outside his family there were no other man woman or child alive that could match his strength… not that he knew anyway.

Percy propped the man up against the wall and 'fixed' him in place with a small metal flint wedged into the stone wall that secured him from the scruff of his cloths. To an observer the man was diligently standing at his post, unless his head fell down which made the guard looked like he was sleeping leaning against the wall. Percy looked at his handiwork one last time before venturing further into the bowels of the citadel.

Whenever Percy came across a guard he would use the needle to put them to sleep. It wasn't anything deadly. It was just one of Silena's many concoctions. It put the target to a coma like state for about four hours. But that trance depended on the target itself as stronger and more physically fit victims were able to throw it off much sooner. The reason why he opted to use such a method to deal with the guards was to make sure he didn't leave behind a bloody path. A happy coincidence of the concoction made it have a little side effect which caused the victim to forget the last few hew hours of their life before they got injected. Sure they would be puzzled by the metal staves, but then again he rather enjoyed watching those all knowing maester run about like headless chicken trying to find clues to things that were beyond their comprehension. When he had the opportunity, he also locked several of these guars in side chambers and threw away the keys.

Percy had already given a brief visit to the library the maesters had on the main floor. But the materials there didn't impress Percy. All of those volumes were already in their possession; either they were already within the Winterfell library or they had managed to procure them from raiding the Night's Watch holdings. The only other places that had more obscure knowledge than Winterfell was either at Castle Black, which neither Percy nor his siblings wanted to violate or here in the nest of the maesters in the heart of the Citadel.

When he found that the rare tomes were not within the main library he started to venture further beneath the castle to find where they were being held. The upper levels were the residences and the offices of the various maesters. Of that he was a hundred percent sure as he had snooped about the place for three days and nights. He would pay them a brief visit on his way out if he had the chance. He didn't want to overlook anything and come back again due to his negligence.

It was not easy to find the entrances to the passageways under the castle, but he had been lucky so far as he saw a few acolytes heading in some unknown direction and decided to tail them. Short story, all three of those acolytes were deep in sleep inside one of the store rooms in rather compromising positions. Percy was an advocate of having fun whenever the opportunity rose up… and he had a rather childish sense of humor according to his siblings. Anyway… those three would be in a very awkward position when they came to their senses. That was if they weren't found out by others sooner.

But thanks to the three he had managed to access a passageway that led to one of the vaults of the Citadel. The passageway had been cleverly hidden behind a false wall that was activated by pulling a lever in an adjacent room. Nobody would have been able to find it in short notice. The tunnel ended in a large dimly lit hall that wasn't overly large. He counted five doors. He didn't find any security. Either the Order was lax in their security or they were so egoistical that they didn't believe that anybody could break into one of their inner sanctums.

'Or maybe I entered through an entrance that they didn't expect anybody to use,' Percy thought gleefully.

Sure nobody expected a breach through a window that was almost forty feet above ground in a blank wall in the part of the castle that was built in water. It had been rather annoying to swim to that particular of the castle from the bay in the cold unruly waters and climb up the wet slippery wall that was smooth as a newborn's skin. It would have been a walk in the park if he had access to his demigod powers. He could have just ordered to ocean to lift him up as he had done so eloquently in the past. Maybe ask a shark to ferry him in between too. But now he had to depend on magic. A little tiring and roundabout in an operation of this kind, but it was something the architects who built this place never had considered.

He had to make his palms and feet sticky so that he could scale the wall. It also made him fulfill his wish of being the spiderman for a day. Sadly he couldn't be seen doing this by anybody as he would be attacked on sight as an 'affront to the Seven' by doing publically flaunting magic.

After that it had been a walk in the park. Almost all of the maesters that roamed about the halls had retired back to their rooms. The only ones left were the more enthusiastic folk that didn't pay any attention to their surroundings and the guards in their nightshifts. It was easier to just avoid them. When he could do so, he isolated them and took them out the same way he had done to the guard he just passed by.

"Reveal all humans," he whispered and a ring like pulse of energy rushed out of him and disappeared into the corners of the hall and into the rooms. His senses tingled and he had a sixth sense feeling of six more guards in the second room to the left. The other rooms were vacant. In a way magic was like a sixth sense to those who were proficient in practicing it. Not only he could have used it to sense the occupants like he had done, but he could also have used it to see what was inside the rooms. The only difference was the amount of time and energy required.

The spell only revealed humans as he had only spelled for them. It may have been arrogant of him to disregard any other being, but this was the Citadel, the maesters went bat shit crazy when they encountered anything that was beyond their explanation. He seriously doubted they had any sort of magical creature tucked under in the very heart of their keep.

Now came the hard part. The six men were together in close formation that he couldn't take them out without raising the alarm. And he couldn't avoid bloodshed either. He had to go hard and be swift and eliminate them before anybody could make a sound. After that he would be free to survey the entire area without distractions. Another reason to hit the guards with lethal force was because he didn't know whether they would come out to do rounds… and he didn't want them to catch him unawares doing something illegal.

"Sif, Fenrir," he called out to his two faithful companions.

The duo materialized from the shadows near him. He knew the two were following him, keeping some distance. Earlier he had entertained the idea of shadow travelling inside the castle with one of them. It would have been quick and without any hassle. But he remembered Nico's warning when it came to this sort of magical transportation. First, he had to know where he was going, unless he wanted to end up inside a wall… or even worse, another human. He didn't know anything about the castle's superstructure. It wasn't like obtaining their help to get to the other side of a door. He had no way of knowing whether his faithful companions were aware of the layout of the place. So he told them to follow him before venturing inside. How they got in… he had no idea. They probably trailed his scent.

The two came to his side and stood in attention. They were well aware that they were inside hostile territory. Even Sif who was very playful and constantly fussing trying to get his attention was on high alert.

"I need you to take me to the other side of that door. On that side there are a few guards and we need to eliminate them as quickly as possible," he whispered.

Fenrir immediately increased his size from the size of a Labrador to a pony so that he could get on his back. They may not be able to talk with each other in the conventional method but they knew what they were saying to each other instinctively. The hellhound pups were rather intelligent in this way. From what he saw over the years, they were just as smart as an average human.

Percy got on Fenrir and drew out his blades. On his dominant right hand was Anaklusmos. He named it after his original sword that had accompanied him through thick and thin saving his neck on many occasions and also as a sign of respect to his sister, Zoe. On his left hand he had a hunting knife that he named Sting. The new Anaklusmos was identical to his old blade in every aspect other than its more pronounced cross guard and wolf shaped pommel. Sting on the other hand was a curved singled edged blade serrated on the opposite which was more suited for a backhanded grip.

Ananke had been correct. They were rather surprised when they brought out everything she had sent them with. Amongst the pile was a lump of Stygian Iron, just enough for Charles to forge weapons for the four and a few extra that were stored in the Stark treasury as heirlooms. Ice, the Stark family's Valyrian steel blade was store away in the Lord's Solar in Winterfell as a symbol of the past for others to see. It was replaced by Stygian Steel great sword named Frostbite which was the pride and joy f their father. He cared for it like a baby often praising Charles for his work in creating the blade.

"Let's go," he said adjusting his position.

The two hellhounds bounded towards the door and as soon as they reached its shadow became part of it. Shadow travelling was nothing new to Percy as he had done it on multiple occasions. But it still didn't ease the cold chill that ran through him each time he did it. The transit only lasted a fraction of a second as they were back in reality on the other side. Percy flung from atop Fenrir and fell right in the middle of the men. Before they had even begun to comprehend what was going on he had thrust one with his hunting knife through a guard's chin and Fenrir had thrown another to the ground by swatting at the man with his massive paws. He descended on the downed man and chomped him on his neck twisting the metal helmet as he did so. Percy didn't hang about to listen to the breaking of bones and metal as the hellhound went to work.

The men were obviously bored as they had just loitered around in the room with random conversations. They hadn't expected such a sudden and ferocious entry. Most of them lost their composure as soon as they saw two of them die, one at his hands and the other at Fenrir's. Percy couldn't even begin to comprehend the terror in their faces when they saw two giant dogs that leapt out of the shadows mauling the people they worked with.

"Get him," one of the guards shouted as he slashed at him with a bastard sword. Another came from his side in order to sandwich him. Percy evaded the second guard by rolling forward and at the same time he brought his sword up to block the first man's strike just over his head.

He was in a disadvantageous position. The second guard jumped at him again. This time he wasn't in any room to maneuver. Holding the first man's sword with his sheer strength he slashed at his knee, the stygian steel blade going right through the protection like it wasn't there at all. The guard didn't even have time to register pain as he slid his opponent's blade off his and used the force to leap to the opposite side.

While he was dodging he slashed at the injured man's torso with all he had. He then used the momentum to correct himself by swiveling on the foot that made contact with the ground and used it to bring his sword around again to block the remaining sword with a mighty clang. He didn't even pause as he stabbed the blocked opponent right in his heart with his knife. He showed the stunned opponent and turned around on instinct.

He pulled the blade out of the falling dead man and threw it at another man who was trying to run toward the door. He may have been a piss poor archer, but that didn't make him a bad shot. His lack of archery skill was hereditary as it was a curse that the twin archers of Olympus cast upon all demigod children of Poseidon for Orion's folly. Even after being reborn, he still had trouble with the bow while his aim with throwing knifes had gotten even deadlier.

The knife went straight through the man's head and the forced of the blade made it go clean through his skull to skewer itself on the door shaking slightly due to the remaining energy. He let out the breath he was holding in and turned to look at his handiwork. His battle senses had already told him that conflict was over.

The man who he had cleaved was still standing as if by some miracle. Percy frowned as he astutely remembered his sword going through the man. But in the next instant his slight frown turned to a small grin of satisfaction as the man fell down. He had been bisected diagonally from shoulder to hip. In a Hollywood movie like manner the two parts separated and fell down independently.

He had taken care of four men, while his pet hellhounds had opted to tear their single targets to pieces. He didn't even want to think about the questionable missing parts of their bodies. It was one thing to kill a man, but to have be eaten alive… well that not a pleasant way to go. The hellhounds were his pets, but that didn't change who they were. They were monsters and all monsters had the instinct of going after mortal prey for food. Sif and Fenrir were no different in this regard and Percy wasn't the one to force cage into the natural order. He shook his head and walked towards the door to collect his knife.

After he picked it up and sealed the door with a spell he looked around to see what the room had that it was worth the only security down in this section of te vaults of the citadel.

The room was just an antechamber. There was nothing here except a few benched and pitchers. Percy ignored this and headed to the other door to take a look inside of the adjacent room.

"Fenrir, you stay here," he turned back and said to his faithful companion and the hellhound gave a small whine as if he was protesting.

"You know I don't trust Sif with tasks like this. She is rather excitable. The moment we are gone, so will she to look for something more interesting," he said to Fenrir.

The hellhound gave something like a sigh and turned back to the door and laid down. Sif on the other hand yipped and nipped at his ankles happily. In fact this was the first time he had taken Sif with him in a mission. She was a scatterbrain who tried to look for thrills all the time.

"Come on, you big baby," he said to Sif and opened the door.

The room was much smaller than its antechamber. But it obviously contained valuables. He spotted several daggers that he speculated were made of Valyrian steel by just glancing at its wire like webbing on the blade. Several fist sized rubies were stored in a rack to a side. There were several vials that were most likely poison as well. Potions weren't as valuable as the various obscure poisons in Westeros. But that may change in the future as Silena was making some great strides in that particular area with the help of her followers. Some of her inventions were already being taught and brewed in the college they had established four years ago.

The most important thing was the book that was kept on a pedestal on the centre of the room. Percy's high Valyrian was rustic. He didn't spend much time on the subject since reading material written in tat language was sparse in the North. Even the books that originated in Valyria had been translated to the language of the First Men over the years. So he only had a rudimentary understanding on it. But by glancing at it, he could see some words like 'blood', 'dragons', 'magic' that instantly told him that this was a valuable find.

"Sif go sniff out anything interesting," he told the hellhound while turning his attention back to the book. Hellhounds had a rather keen sense when it came to danger. Mrs. O'Leary's pups on the other hand had something similar to a third sense to sniff out treasure and things that humans would rather overlook because of their less than stellar appearances.

'What to do with this book? Should I steal it? Should I make a copy and replace it?' Percy juggled his options. On one had he could just lift it and since he wasn't going to hang back to clean the mess he made it made sense for him to do that. But then the problem arose whether that this was a book that the Citadel would kill to get back. That would lead to a conflict and he knew no matter how much he was being careful eventually the culprit of tonight would come up. There were organizations that he and his siblings wanted to keep away from their lands for the time being such as the faceless men. Percy didn't want any problems for his family down the line. But then again who was he to say that the Citadel would leave him alone even if he replaced it.

The other option was to use magic and duplicate it. He could rig it to disappear in the future after the hubbub had died down or make an actual copy to replace the one he wanted. The only differences between these two options are the energy requirement. Magic unlike his demigod powers had to be powered by his life force. Life force was another term for the internal energy they consumed to do various tasks, it didn't reflect about the amount of time you had on the mortal plane like you would think.

Magicians were limited by the amount of energy that their bodies could produce and store. Most magicians didn't have energy to do anything major like control the sea or make a man invulnerable. Even Percy with his altered body couldn't even think of doing things he was capable in the past. But then again he wasn't a master of runes for nothing.

Usually a magician needed to fill his depleted life force by consuming food. A portion of calories in the food is automatically converted to the magical power and stored within t cells. But there was also ways to store magic externally. For an example one could store life force in an appropriate gem to use in the future. These gems were the only viable option to store life force for future use and unlike the energy stored within your cells it could be store for an indefinite amount of time and could be utilized by another person.

By putting their heads together Charles and Percy were able to design a system that consisted of their knowledge on magic and rune to circumvent the problem entirely. By using runes on a gem they were able to make a gem absorb energy directly from sunlight. The more intense the sunlight was, the more energy said gem absorbed. The method of creating one such gem was long and arduous with the runic array itself taking more than half a year to complete. If they were in a rush, they could make one gem in about three months. Then there was the rig that they made as the solar charging station. There was only one station present and it was hidden within the Valley of Origin, the place he found when he was exploring the lower levels of Winterfell.

Charles used the gem to forge a wrist guard made of leather and metal for the duo and two rings for the ladies. His wrist guard which had about a dozen of gems the size of his little toenail, each had stored up enough energy to cause a small earthquake. Even with all this energy Percy didn't feel safe as he wasn't able to control the elements instinctively like he did in his previous life. Charles often questioned on why Percy kept such a large amount of life force that almost matched a minor god on earth. Percy always reminded him of the dangers Ananke had warned them saying he didn't want to be caught off guard. He had two more sets of gems in the charging station should he need replacement.

That was also the reason why he had begun training his mind so that he could 'think' what he wanted his magic to do so that he could control his elements freely. Maybe it was also due to the fact that he didn't want to forget Poseidon. The man may have not been a father to him like Rickard Stark, but he was the man who defined him and made him who he was. In the end they even managed to get closer to each other deepening their bond. Percy wished to preserve that tiny bit of legacy.

Percy shook his head trying to focus on the matter at hand. The problem with duplicating was the enormous amount of energy to create something out of nothing. It wasn't feasible to create something bigger than a matchbox. So he turned to the next best option as he spotted several wooded boxes lying around.

He started to chant in the ancient language and the wooden box gradually changed shape from a box to a book and then its pages started to fill up. He directed energy from his wrist guard to the process as he wanted to stay conscious at the end of the process. It took about five minutes and the duplication was done. For an added twist in pure spite for hording knowledge, he rigged the newly created book to turn back into its original form in about a year.

'Let's see how they handle that,' he thought vindictively.

He placed the original book in the bag he brought with him. Luckily they were taught the supreme word for space as they had used it to create bags like this with much larger space on the inside.

He also pocketed all the Valyrian blades, a few other books, the gems that were able to store energy. Percy also took a few samples of poison so that they could develop antidotes. As an added precaution he dumped the rest of the concoctions to a pitcher from the adjacent room and lit the mixture on fire. He wasn't going take any chance with these harmful substances. After taking in the stuff he looked around and didn't spot anything else. For this entire task he dint take more than ten minutes.

"Did you find something girl?"

Sif gave a whine which indicated she hadn't. So with one last look he headed out closing the door behind him escaping the plume of smoke that was most likely toxic behind. He left the aftermath for the maesters to decide for themselves. There were four other rooms to plunder before dawn in this section. He didn't want to hang around till the time when the maesters frequented the vaults.

The next room was the library that was only accessible by maesters with a standing in the Citadel. The door had three different keyholes. Obviously it was meant to be opened by the three key holders together. In Percy's opinion this room had more security than the last since after he got rid of the guards he just walked inside without any problems. The room beyond the guardroom wasn't even locked.

He indicated for Fenrir to hide in the chamber and went inside the room with Sif. There were only about a dozen of bookracks each holding about thirty tomes that was think as a man's palm. All of them were written in high Valyrian. After a moment of thought he copied all of these books and packed away the originals. But this time he didn't sabotage the tomes. Doing that to that one super important tome was enough. It took about an hour to finish up his work. This time Sif found something hidden.

Inside a cavity in the wall that was activated by a spring loaded mechanism he found two more books hidden away. These while being written in a language he had no idea of were not as large as their compatriots in the room. He didn't hesitate to swipe them as well. Percy also took all the loose sheets of paper inside the cavity without even looking at their content because he had a hunch that they were important. He didn't even bother to replace the ones he snitched.

The last three rooms were full of herbs and other ingredients. He didn't touch them as the North already had most of them and even if they didn't have it, it wouldn't take much time to find it and cultivate in one of their growing herb gardens. He also left the gold and other valuables untouched only taking away the things made of Valyrian steel. His family didn't have to stoop to the level of stealing. They were well off and their trade would only cause their vaults to overflow in the future. Valyrian steel o the other had was more valuable as the trio hadn't found out a stable source of the material. Charles guaranteed that the material was artificially produced and not mined when Zoe brought up whether it was a substance unique to this world. Every bit of the metal they found was given to their elder brother to figure out how it was produced since it was a valuable commodity in this world.

"Let's go," he said to his companions and sneaked in the same direction he came from. There were other vaults he needed to plunder and the top section of the castle he wanted to have a quick look around. Who knew what the old cronies in this restricted castle hid from the public?.

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