Chapter 57: Cercei Lannister

The march along the Goldroad was long and arduous, but it was necessary. By taking this route it allowed Tywin ample opportunity to boost his armies numbers since many of his major houses were along the route.

House Sarsfield, House Brax, House Lydden, and House Serrett all held lands that were near the Goldroad between Casterly Rock and Kings Landing. These were the only houses he could call upon due to needing to leave his coastal city Lords and their armies to defend against the Ironborn who were raiding his coastlines.

Euron Greyjoy was causing a lot of chaos along the coast of Westerlands, the fighting was intense, many of the smaller villages had to relocate due to thousands had been killed or taken as thralls and salt wives. So to stem the losses and force the Ironborn to attack the more fortified places, Tywin had all the small coastal villages to relocate into the walled cities, this also allowed the castles to have more fighters to defend with.

Even though they only had about nine thousand men, this was enough to retake Kings Landing. Tywin had left Cercei in Casterly Rock, she was to assist Ser Stafford Lannister, who was Tywins brother-in-law, in maintaining order while he marched on Kings Landing. Stafford was Joanna Lannisters brother.

This was not something that Cersei wanted, she was intent on getting revenge herself, so she began to scheme and build her own plan. But she was unsure of how to enter the Red Keep, that was until Tyrion showed up after escaping Kings Landing.

Upon finding out that Tyrion used a series of secret passages that led from the Red Keep to the docks, the same one used by Jaime to escape with Elia, Aiden and the children when Tywin sacked Kings Landing those years ago, she now began to set her plans in motion.

Cersei was determined to get her hands on not only Pycelle and Robert, but Princess Arianne Martell as well. She would exact revenge on all three and place herself back as Queen. She lusted for the power of the throne, even intending to wed Joffrey herself to maintain her position.

She had been grooming Joffrey since he was a child, it was why she was so obsessed with him. Her anger towards her twin Jaime, who she had thought was her soul mate, had caused those incestuous thoughts to be turned to her own son. She felt they were a perfect couple, which those thoughts only increased as he got older, since he only listened to her and hurt everyone else but her.

She was the cause of his madness, in private she would tell the boy she was his and he hers, and that one day they would be together as they were destined. So when the boy witnessed Robert being violent with her, and in turn Cersei being viscious to the maids, Joffrey slowly developed the pension for cruelty.

He saw that no matter what he did his mother praised him, even when he harmed and attacked the maids, her only response to him was, "You are a lion, and I your lioness. Lions take what they want and do what they want while the lioness takes care of everything else for him, including giving the lion his cubs."

Even when he acted against his siblings Myrcella and Tommen, Cersei had taken his side, never once disciplining him or even admonishing him. This caused his cruelty to escalate further and further, as if he wanted to test the limits of what she would except and not except.

Cersei even assisted him in his darker pleasures, summoning young and pretty maids that had caught Robert's attention to his chambers to watch him do harm to them as she masterbated in front of him, she enjoyed watching those who her husband lusted after suffer.

This was also what caused him to be impudent towards other women, only his mother could get a rise out of him, besides being cruel to other women, it was why he had been caught doing the same with the Dornish whore.

Joffrey had seen how his father lusted after his fiancée, then upon learning of the Dornish whore, he had her brought to him, he had hoped his mother would come to his room when he did this, since he wasn't told of her whereabouts. This was why he didn't lock the door and Robert was able to walk right in, when the door had opened he thought it was her coming to join him.

Cersei had tried to demand Tywin bring her with him, but he had refused. Like most of the southerners Tywin felt the battlefield had no place for women.

"You will be summoned back to Kings Landing after I have taken it back. Only then you will return, until then, you will do your duty to your house and ensure our lands are maintained. Ser Stafford is a loyal man but he has his faults, you will remain here and ensure that everything within Lannisport runs smoothly. I will handle Pycelle and Robert myself." Tywin told her.

Cersei knew her father well, she didn't doubt his words, but she knew he would just have them killed, and that he would maintain the wedding agreement with Dorne. At first she was fine with the arrangement, but after her ordeal she had changed her mind.

She had developed a new plan on her escape from Kings Landing, she knew her father would never allow what she wanted to do. So she planned to kill her father by poisoning him, blame his and the Martell Prince and Princess death on Renly Baratheon. That way she could maintain good relations with Dorne, while also getting rid of the biggest obstacle.

Renly was more liked by people than his brother Stannis, although legally Stannis was higher in the line of succession, he wasn't very well liked due to his rigid and stubborn personality.

Take Davos Seasworth as an example, even though he smuggled food into Storm's End during Robert's Rebellion, which saved Stannis and his armies lives, keeping them from starving to death. Stannis still disciplined him by cutting off a few fingers since he broke the law by smuggling.

Most people wouldn't have seen what Davos did as a illegal act had they been in Stannis' shoes. They would've praised Davos and rewarded him, Stannis did knight the man after he cut off his fingers as a reward, but he still punished the man unnecessarily. That was how rigid he was.

He both punished and rewarded the man that saved him, his family, and his men from dieing slow agonizing deaths. Starvation is a very horrible way to die, especially when its a whole castle worth of people. It will make them do things that they normally would never do, it literally can drive even small groups mad such as turning to cannibalism, so imagine the damage it would do to a large army.

Stannis' men were just a day or two away from doing that exact thing had Davos not shown up with onions, potatoes, and whatever else he could get his hands on for the men. It was how he got his moniker "Onion Knight", onions were the primary food stuffs he was able to smuggle into the castle of Storm's End.

Using her body to seduce her cousin Ser Daven Lannister, the son of Ser Stafford Lannister, Cersei was able to convince him to agree to take a small force of elite soldiers to assist her in attacking Kings Landing. She had also convinced Tyrion to join her, she needed him to show her and Daven the route into the Red Keep through the secret passages from the port.

She used his new lover Shea as a weapon against him. Shae was a whore who Tyrion had met along the way to Kings Landing when he was sent there by Tywin to join Roberts small council. He fell in love with her and brought her to Kings Landing.

Cersei threatened to have her raped in front of him by every guard in Casterly Rock, which was highly effective due to what happened to his first love Tysha. Cersei was aware of this and knew it would be effective in getting him to join her.

Soon after Cercei and a hundred and fifty men set sail during the cover of night, all along the way she made sure to give Daven ample motivation to work hard, having him in her room on the ship nightly.

She made sure to bring the vial of "love potion" Pycelle had used on her, she shivered at remembering what the potion had done to her. The pleasure she felt was unbelievable, even though she hated the fact that such a disgusting man had his way with her repeatedly, the pleasure had truly been like nothing before.

She had been using small drops on herself each time she slept with Daven, enjoying the sensation it added to the act. She would get more when they arrived back in the Red Keep, it was addictive to her. She saw so much potential with such a potion.

Tyrion sat within his room, knowing that this was a bad idea, he had just escaped Robert's clutches, and here he was heading right back into the man's territory. Rather than let his fear rule him, he began to think of a plan to ensure their success.

While he had been in Casterly Rock, he had learned that their father was on his way to Kings Landing by way of the Goldroad. So they would definitely arrive well before his father's army, by a few weeks at the least, possibly a month depending on how quickly the men marched.

Tyrion sat alone, pondering on what they could do to make their fathers assault more successful. He felt if he could succeed in this, he would gain his fathers approval, something he had been trying to gain throughout his life.

Tywin blamed him for his mothers death so had always been extremely harsh with him, Cersei too hated him, although she claimed it was for the same reason as their fathers, it was actually for a different reason.

Cersei had received a prophesy from a woods witch named Maggy the Frog when she was younger, she was told she would be Queen and bare three children, while her husband would have twenty. She was told that the three would have golden crowns and one would wear a golden shroud, one child will be king but his kingship would be short, she would be replaced by a much younger and more beautiful Queen, and that she would meet her end by her little brother.

This was why Cersei hated Tyrion, she saw him as her enemy, so had never once treated him as a brother in a attempt to subvert the prophesy.

Cersei, although a very beautiful woman, was not very wise. Almost every scheme or plot she ever hatched failed, and when they succeeded, the repercussion of her actions were far worse for herself. For example, after she had Robert killed in the original timeline, she actually ended up becoming exactly like Robert herself. She began to drink heavily, whore around with multiple men and women, she began to ignore suggestions much wiser people made to her, turning her own allies against herself thru her own actions.

Everything she once hated about Robert, she herself did. Even when she turned on Margaery Tyrell, having her arrested by the High Septon, she thought she succeeded, only to have it backfire and be arrested herself and multiple charges were brought against her. While Margaery was released and proven innocent.

Even now, her current actions were not very smart. She was at a large disadvantage, although she had thought she had the element of surprise, due to the fact that Tywin was marching towards Kings Landing already, and she would be arriving well ahead of Tywin, the guards would already be on high alert.

So being able to go unnoticed by sea would be near impossible. Even if she should succeed in gaining entry undetected, and was able to accomplish what she wanted, she and her group would be outnumbered and surrounded. The City Watch had two thousand men, while she only had a hundred and fifty.

Should she kill Robert her position wouldn't be able to protect her like she imagined it would. She thought she could use her title of Queen to avoid any repercussions, but killing a king was a serious crime.

In the original timeline, Jaime Lannister only avoided criminal punishment due to Robert pardoning him, but even so he had the infamous moniker of Kingslayer from that day forward. A constant reminder that he had broke his vow, even if the king was mad and he did it to save the city, he had wanted to die after he had saw what Gregor Clegane and Armory Lorch did to Elia and her children, so he accepted the nickname for failing to protect them.

Only Tyrion truly saw the folly in what they were doing, he had tried to get Cersei to at least put the trip off by a week at the least, this would put their arrival in close proximity to when his fathers army would be closer to Kings Landing, which would give them a better chance.

The City Watch would be focused on Tywin, which would allow them to sneak in easier as well as sneaking back out. However Cersei didn't listen to his advice, this was because she knew Robert would be at the frontlines and not within the Red Keep if they did this, so she wouldn't be able to get her revenge herself.

She didn't just want Pycelle and Arianne, she wanted Robert as well, it was he who allowed Pycelle to do what he did, thinking that he specifically ordered Pycelle to rape her the way he did. In fact this wasn't true, although he did authorize torture, he didn't think Pycelle was capable of such and act.

To Robert and just about everyone else, they thought Pycelle was an old man, close to death by the way he walked slowly and talked weakly, only Varys knew that this was all just an act.

Tyrion knew that he would need to make up for his sisters stupidity, that is if he wanted to still return home to Shae. Tyrion stared at the candles flame that lit his room and the maps before him, deep in thought, this would not be a simple task, the people didn't have much love for the lion. Mainly due to what happened when Tywin sacked Kings Landing at the end of Robert's Rebellion.

Tywin's army was ruthless to the civilians, many unarmed civilians, who didn't even put up a fight, had been murdered and raped by his army as soon as the gates were opened to them. It wasn't as if they were loyal to the Targaryens and tried to defend the Mad King, they mearly tried to defend their homes, families, and businesses.

In fact many didn't mind that someone was going against Aerys, many lived in fear of being picked up and burned to death by their king, which had happened quite often to the people living within the capital. They would be picked up on false charges, forced into a Trial by Combat, only to have to try to fight Wildfire.

By Tywin allowing this to happen, in fact he encouraged it, the people were not fans of the blond haired lions. Not only that, but Tyrion had learned that Joffrey was fueling that hatred over the years. Many maids and whores had been harmed by him, rumors of his and Cercei's cruelty was spreading throughout Kings Landing.

'How will I make it out of this alive, while accomplishing what I must to keep Shae safe? If we fail, I fear what my sister will do should we make it back to Casterly Rock.' Tyrion thought as he wracked his brain on how to proceed.