2.07 - Nyessor

Nyessor -1​

At the Prince's words of agreement, Nyessor felt the tension drain out of him. He had felt uncomfortable with this plan from the moment that he had learned of it. But, the Council and more importantly his father had insisted that Prince Aelyx remain in the dark about their true goal of Myr until the campaign was well underway.

"Now, let's talk about compensation." Drawled the young dragon rider.

And just like that the unease that had just been banished returned with a vengeance.

"Compensation?"

Aleyx titled his head, in what Nyessor was certain was mock puzzlement. "At its core, our agreement was quite simple, I help you capture the Myrish Marches and in return, you assist me in the reconquest of the Stepstones. It was an equivalent exchange. If I am going so far as to deliver a Free City to you that rather tilts the scale in your favor, doesn't it?"

"It is not as though you will not gain from the taking Myr. The city would serve as an excellent staging ground for your Stepstones campaign, and it will provide an allied port that is far closer than Pentos or King's Landing."

Nyessor withheld a grimace at his own rather lukewarm response. There was no way around it, Pentos gaining Myr as a client state massively skewed the alliance in the Principality's favor.

"That's true." Aelyx acknowledged with a nod. "Which is why I agreed to the endeavor instead of laughing in your face. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to meet your last-minute renegotiations without my own demands."

Nyessor withheld a sight. These potential demands were exactly why the Council had gone with this strategy of surprise. The hope had been that with Aelyx already embarked on the campaign he would be swept along by the momentum and agree to help take Myr with minimal fuss. Nyessor felt that this plan was the result of a severe misinterpretation of the prince's character. Many mistook his affable nature for weakness. The fact of the matter was that while Aelyx Targaryen rarely saw a point in making mountains of molehills, he was still a Targaryen dragonlord and was absolutely capable of acting the part.

"What are your demands?" He asked.

"Let us start with the simple point first." The prince began. "My share, I would like my share of the indemnity extracted to increase by ten percent." He paused and his eyes narrowed slightly. "And to be clear that is ten percent of the total payment, not ten percent of my initial share."

"That is outrageous," Nyessor sputtered in exaggerated disbelief. "We agreed in a fifty-fifty split."

"An. Entire. Free. City." Aelyx enunciated slowly.

"Fine, I can increase your share by five percent."

"Seven," came the instant counter.

"Agreed."

"So, you have, quite the latitude for negotiations." Aelyx mused.

Nyessor shrugged there was no reason to hide. "The Council was aware that this decision would likely result in renegotiations, so they empowered me to act in their interest."

"And is it binding?" the dragon rider asked his stare heavy. "Because, if I help you take Myr and I find that the Council of Magisters does not consider itself bound by your agreement, the results would be rather … catastrophic."

Nyessor stared into the dark purple eyes of the young man sitting across from him and fought the urge to gulp. Visions of Pentos in flames danced through his mind, as it became startlingly clear that the Targaryen was far more irritated by the Council's double dealings than he had initially shown.

"Yes, of course, my word is binding." He hastened to give his assurances. "The seal to the city is in a trunk in my rooms and the moment we have come to a satisfactory arrangement I will summon a scribe and we will write out an official contract. Then tomorrow it will be witnessed and sealed before all the commanders. You will of course receive one of the copies. "

"Our last agreement was witnessed and sealed as well." The Targaryen pointed out sardonically.

"And we would have kept it," Nyessor said. "If you had refused to take part in the seizure of Myr would have cleaved to our original contract to the letter."

"That's easy to say now that I have already agreed to new terms, of course, if we are unable to come to an agreement here, we may still have cause to see how true your word is."

"So, you have some additional demands, beyond the increase in your share of the gold?"

The prince snorted in amusement. "Of course, I do." He glanced around the solar do you have a map of the Triarchy here?"

"I do," Nyessor confirmed. He grabbed one of the roles of parchment from his desk, and after clearing a space unfurled it.

Aelyx leaned forward in his seat and examined the map. "Could you turn it?" Nyessor fought down a blush of embarrassment and turned the map so that it was sideways between them.

Aelyx stared at the map for a long moment before reaching out and tapping a point on the southern coast of the Sea of Myrth. Nyessor titles his head to read the name of the town the prince had indicated.

"Kylos?" he asked in confusion.

"You are right that Myr would serve as a good staging ground for our Stepstones campaign, Pentos can certainly muster its fleet there. But, if am going to wait two years before starting the invasion I am going to need a place to muster and garrison my army. Kylos is a fairly large town, almost a small city. After we take Myr I want Pentos's support to march south along the coast and seize Kylos."

"You want territory on the mainland." Nyessor quarried, his face carefully blank.

"I don't intend to hold Kylos long term," Aelyx explained. "It is a convenient location because I could still maintain lines of communication with Myr. But, after I take the Stepstones it would be difficult to try and hold territory on the wrong side of Tyrosh."

Nyessor relaxed infinitesimally. The dragon rider's eyes widened and with a sinking feeling, Nyessor realized he had given the game away.

"That's what this is all about." The Targaryen breathed in shock. You are fine with me controlling the Stepstones, especially given the low tolls I have promised you, but you don't want me to have a foothold on the mainland."

Nyessor scoffed, "That's ridiculous." He lied. "Why would the Council worry about you controlling land on the continent?"

"If you are able to turn Myr into a puppet, Pentos will become the effective master of southwestern Essos. But, if I controlled a slice of the coast as well I could expand and eventually go from an ally to a regional rival. Especially if I were to pull Tyrosh into my sphere of influence."

This time Nyessor was able to completely control his reaction. Aelyx's guesses had been essentially correct, although they had fallen short of reaching the greatest concern of the Council of Magisters. That Tyrosh would not simply be dominated by the resurgent Kingdom of the Stepstones but would be outright annexed by it. A dragon rider with control of the Stepstones and Tyrosh as their seat of power could easily become a regional hegemon. The rulers of Pentos had no desire to replace the threat of the Triarchy with the threat of Aelyx Targaryen. Which is why this rather underhanded maneuver had been conceived of. The fear had been if they had requested Myr in the initial negotiation the Targaryen would have demanded dominion over his own Free City. Personally. Nyessor doubted that such a thought had done more than flit its way across Aelyx's mind. Not because, he believed that the prince would shy away from such a project, but because he was realistic enough to recognize the impossibility given the current circumstances. Aelyx was no Aegon the Conquer who'd already controlled the well-developed Blackwater Isles before beginning his Conquest. With the resources Aelyx currently possessed it would not be possible for him to control a city the size of Tyrosh.

Realizing he had been silent for too long, Nyessor replied "I assure you Aelyx, that the sole reason that we did not inform you of the potential change in plans was that the Council was worried about the viability of capturing Myr and a few prominent individuals were afraid that you would see their hesitance as doubting your capabilities.

The Targaryen scoffed in obvious disagreement. But, chose not to press the issue. It was obvious that he was aware Nyessor would never admit the true motivations of the Council. For all that Nyessor had come to consider the prince a friend his first loyalty was to Pentos.

"Anyway, I want Pentoshi support for the capture and occupation of Kylos."

"And what exactly do you mean by support?" Nyessor queried warily.

"Supplies and men."

"It would be troublesome to further extend the time the militia is called up."

Aelyx waved his hand dismissively. "There are multiple free companies in the army, pay their salary for two years and transfer authority to me."

Nyessor frowned this was getting expensive, but he had the authority to effectively promise anything that fell short of conquering Tyrosh. "We will pay the contracts of up to a thousand sellswords in your employ for a period of two years, any free company you recruit beyond that number along with anyone you bring over from Westeros you will have to pay for from your own share of the plunder."

"Fifteen hundred men for two years and the following campaign in the Stepstones, the other terms are acceptable"

"Beyond that, the provided support for your conquest and occupation of the Stepstones will remain unchanged from our previous agreement. But no support will be provided for any further campaigns on the mainland once the islands are secure." Nyessor paused. "At least no support without further negotiations."

"Agreed."

With the rough terms of the renegotiated agreement finished. Nyessor summoned his secretary. Over the next several hours the general and the prince would draft and redraft the new treaty quibbling, over details. As the sun began to set, a final draft was produced and Nyessor tiredly shook hands with the prince, who then departed for the evening