Chapter 7: The Pale Death

112 AC

Harmen looked around as everyone celebrated the marriage of his older sister Dorea Uller to Ser Ormond Allyrion in the great domed Tower of the Sun. It was what his father Ulwyck Uller, the Prince of Dorne called 'the wedding that would define Dorne for centuries to come', just like the marriage of Nymeria to Mors Martell—the marriage to unite Dornishmen of the Desert and that of the Coast except for the Dornishmen of the Mountains.

The singers and minstrels played the drums, pipes, flutes, fiddles, and horns from the gallery above as everyone began to dance to the many tunes that were played one after the other. All around people celebrated as if there was no tomorrow.

Haren turned around to see his father talking with Lord Armond Allyrion and Lord Archibald Santagar, he heard them talking about the dragons. He was but a boy of three and ten but he was his father's squire so he heard all of his father's conversations and dealings with his fellow Dornishmen.

"How long will it take before the Targaryens finally attack?" Lord Archibald Santagar asked his father who snorted.

"Who gives a shit? There are only two Targaryens we need to worry about and those two can't even have an eleven-course meal without fighting with each other, I won't be surprised if a civil war breaks out while we are speaking right now?"

"But suppose they do?" A worried Lord Armond pressed to which his father shrugged, "Then we will do what our forefathers did during the First Conquest, we hide in the desert when the dragons approach, and once the dragons leave we reclaim our land and kick out the invaders until hopefully just like my ancestors, we too get a lucky shot on one of their dragons which will forever scare them off our lands for good."

"If we are truly lucky we will get to kill him," His father finished. Harmen's father didn't have to explain who he meant by him. Nobody in Dorne would say his name.

"I hear that the armies of the Reach and the Stormlands have massed at the Prince's Pass and the Boneyway," Lord Archibald informed.

"What care is that to us? Let Yronwood deal with it," His father waved it off, "Come now my friend, we are here to celebrate a truly momentous day, the day when we, the House of Uller and Allyrion become the true heirs of House Martell."

Then as one of Ormond Allyrion's younger sisters came to take Harmen to dance with everyone else with his father's leave, the great doors opened to reveal a new company of guests. They weren't Dornishmen Harmen noticed from a first glance, they were from Essos. All the singing and dancing stopped as people turned to look at them.

The man who led them was certainly a nobleman with the way he carried himself as well as his fine clothes. His bright blue robes with golden Myrish lace showed him to be a man of important standing whilst some were slaves most of his men were guards, they wore silver mail shirts and wielded spears, their polished helms were fashioned like tiger masks and upon further observation, Harmen noticed that their gauntlets had steel claws.

The man came to the High Table and spoke in an accented Common Tongue, "Prince Uller, my name is Belicho Paenymion, the honored envoy of Volantis."

"Ah, yes, our friends of Volantis, welcome to Sunspear. How tardy of me not to greet you at the docks? For a few days, I thought you were never going to arrive or worse the Targaryens caught you."

Belicho laughed, "Alas, no we managed to steer clear of them but unfortunately the seas were rough but here we are."

"Of course," His father laughed.

"A gift for the married couple," Belicho announced as one of his men brought forth a case made of ornate ivory and placed it in front of them, "A game that is very popular in Volantis, it is called cyvasse. It is all the rage amongst both the nobility and the commoners of Volantis."

His sister and her husband graciously accepted the gift and gave it to the servants who placed the gift among the many gifts.

He turned around to the rest of the Great Hall, "As for everyone else, I have fifty barrels of the finest sweet red wine of Volantis and another fifty barrels of Myrish green nectar wine."

Everyone cheered loudly and raised their cups to toast Belicho and Harmen poured wine for his father before he raised his cup to toast them, there was something about this man that didn't seem right. Harmen wasn't sure what it was but there was something in that man's gaze that made it unsettling for him. His deep blue eyes shone with malice.

"Volantis has seen what House Targaryen has been doing since the War of the Stepstones, especially since that cunt Maekar made Tyrosh a vassal of the Iron Throne, an affront that cannot be tolerated and as such Volantis shall support Dorne in every manner possible against the dragons, a land that has already defeated them before."

"Hear, Hear," Prince Ulwyck raised his cup, "A toast to the eternal friendship between Dorne and Volantis."

As everyone raised their cups, Belicho was given a cup as well, and as everyone drank, one of Belicho's slaves brought forth an ornate chest of ebony wood.

"As a sign of friendship between Volantis and Dorne, the Triarchs of Volantis do hereby gift you this," Belicho announced as he revealed an axe but it was no ordinary axe. Harmen looked carefully to see the ripples on the axe, there was only one type of steel that made such ripples. Valyrian steel.

As Harmen's father walked closer in awe he remarked, "I heard that the cunt had an axe like this one."

Belicho laughed, "Oh dare I say, it is exactly this one."

"Huh-" Before Harmen's father could react, Belicho swung the axe and sliced off his head and then all hell broke loose. The spearmen with Belicho began to turn on the guests while crossbow bolts began flying around, Harmen quickly ducked underneath the High Table and looked up to see that the musicians were the ones with crossbows in their hands.

Lord Archibald had gotten up only to find his back filled with crossbow bolts if he screamed it was drowned in the screams of the others who were being murdered by the Volantenes but why would the Volantenes do this? This could not be the Volantenes Harmen felt fear creep up his spine as he shivered in dread. He looked around under the table to see the greatest nightmare of all.

All of his father's bannermen, his friends, and all their loyal supporters being murdered by those people. He saw Ser Ormond rush toward the man who was supposed to be Belicho only to get a spear to go through his mouth and out of the back of his neck.

Some of the others were garroted, and some were bludgeoned to death while the others were speared through their backs as they tried to run. Men, women, and children were killed with no thought, it made no difference. Harmen couldn't move as he froze in fear, he began to feel his heart beating louder and louder, he felt something warm go down his breeches but he cared not for it.

Then the madman began to cackle all the while his men began to murder everyone inside the hall, then Harmen saw his father's guards rush into the Great Hall for a moment Harmen thought help had arrived but the madman did not stop laughing and his men did not care to look at them. And then to his great horror, he saw the Captain of the Guards Andrey Sand walk up to the madman and knelt, "Sunspear is yours, Your Grace." That traitor.

Then Harmen heard a groan he turned in shock to see his sister Dorea crawling toward him, she had a crossbow bolt in her leg and in her shoulder which coated her white gown in red. She looked up at him grabbed him and hissed, "You must avenge us, it's him, Harmen, you must run, escape, Harmen, keep running until you avenge us."

But before he could do anything he felt strong and unfriendly hands grab him apart from his sister while a spear went into her neck. Upon seeing his sister die, Harmen felt hot tears run down his face as he began to bite and trash around him.

Some men screamed upon being bit but then a slap from a gauntleted hand broke his lip and sent him crashing to the floor and the stone floor rose to slap him. Then another set of hands grabbed him and placed him in front of the madman.

Harmen looked through his teary eyes to see that the madman's blue eyes were not blue, they were purple.

"So you are the boy, their new heir of Sunspear and Hellholt," The madman grinned only for Harmen to spit into his face. Harmen received a blow to the face from one of his slaves but Harmen didn't mind. His forefathers would rather die than submit to these men and so would he.

"Come on, Tyland, we need him alive," The madman said as he wiped out the spit and blood from his face.

"Do you know who I am boy?" The madman asked while screams began to be heard from the windows facing the shadow city.

"A DEAD MAN, A MAN WHO WILL NEVER LEAVE DORNE ALIVE, DORNE WILL KILL YOU," Harmen defiantly yelled back, "AND THE SAME GOES FOR YOU, SAND, YOU TRAITOR. MY FATHER SHOULD HAVE PLACED YOUR HEAD ON A SPIKE. YOU BLOODY TRAITOR." Harmen yelled at the traitor as spittle flew from his mouth but Andrey looked more amused than anything as did the others.

"Alas, your father is now dead," The madman replied taking up Harmen's father's head.

Harmen looked away only for that slave to forcibly make Harmen look at the head.

"I ask you again boy, do you who I am?" The madman asked with a cruel smile and there was only man Harmen knew whom his father dreaded the most.

"You are him, the Pale Death of the Triarchy," Harmen whispered, and the madman grinned once more, "You're goddamn right."

"And now, I shall be the Scourge of Dorne," He said with an evil smirk as his purple eyes glinted in madness.

One of the masked Tigers said to him while the others left the hall, "The men in the barrels have been released and as we speak they have secured the castle while our saboteurs are setting fires across the city causing many to panic. The oarsmen of our ships have also been added to our ranks."

Another one said, "The people were rioting at first but then we unfurled the Targaryen banner and your personal sigil your grace and almost immediately the entire riotous crowd ran away, most of them running into the desert."

He nodded, "Good, let them run not that it will help them anyway. By now my brother must have begun his march on the Boneway, by the end of the year Dorne as we know it will be dead, and don't worry Ser Andrey, you will have your reward."

"Place the lookouts to watch for when the fleet arrives," He commanded the traitor who bowed and left while another man clamped him in chains.

In the end, he was left alone in chains with the slave and him, Harmen couldn't bring himself to look at him. Harmen looked around the Great Hall to see that it was silent with death. His entire family was dead, everyone he knew was dead, all his friends, his cousins, his sister, and his father.

Then as the screams outside grew softer, a man wearing mail armor entered from the side doors he looked disheveled as he removed his half helm, "Alright, next time we are doing this I am not going to be the man in the bloody barrel. Make someone else do it."

Then another man arrived, he was the leader of the musicians in the gallery, and he carried a crossbow with him instead of his fiddle, Harmen couldn't believe how many people were plotting to betray his father, "Ah hah, all these years, all of you mocked me for my talent with a fiddle and taking those lessons at court, and guess who is the one who did not have to change into a disguise," He boasted while the others rolled their eyes.

"Yes, we all admit it Robert you are great with a fiddle," The madman said with a smile.

Harmen couldn't believe his eyes and his ears, they stood here in his father's hall after having massacred his entire family here they stood japing.

The fiddler looked at the barrel man and crunched his nose, "Amos, you look like you have been sweating buckets."

"Damn right I am, I have sweated enough buckets to fill a damn barrel. And never again I tell you, if we are doing this again then I am taking fiddling lessons," The Barrel man responded angrily.

"At least it is better than Tyland's brown hair," The fiddler japed and with each jape, Harmen felt even angrier.

"Hey, I colored my beautiful golden hair brown for this mission. If my mother saw this she would get a stroke," The slave replied affronted while everyone laughed.

Then finally Harmen couldn't stand to watch as how they desecrated his family and japed about their deaths, "HOW DARE YOU?"

"HOW DARE YOU ALL COME INTO MY HOUSE AND BETRAY US? HAVE YOU NO HONOR, WE BROKE BREAD WITH YOU, WE SHARED OUR ROOF WITH YOU, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US."

"DORNE WILL HAVE ITS VENGEANCE, YOU WILL ANSWER TO THE GODS," Harmen screamed until he lost his voice and broke down crying but he heard them speak.

"Was he talking about you Robert or about us," The slave asked.

"I wouldn't know because I made sure to eat my own bread while here," The fiddler replied, "I wouldn't dare break guest right."

"I was in a fucking barrel all day so no idea what he is talking about," The Barrel man answered, "Though I am hungry, I think I can see some roast beef not covered in blood."

"I was a slave, slaves don't eat or drink on such important occasions though I am thirsty, maybe there is some wine left," The slave continued.

Then finally, he spoke, "He is talking about me, I toasted with his father but it seems that his education is lacking."

He then grabbed Harmen by the neck, "Look at me boy, do you know a man called Wyl of Wyl, the rest of the Seven Kingdoms certainly do. And you say that the Gods will make me answer. You are a fool of the greatest sort, I figured that your father would have taught you something worthwhile, look around you boy there are no Gods to make me answer only the might of men, and trust me when I tell you that this isn't even a tenth of the power I wield."

Harmen looked back defiantly at the madman who gave a lopsided grin and then a thunderous rolling roar from outside filled the hall making Harmen flinch. Suddenly it felt that the entire castle was covered in a massive shadow and a sudden gust of wind blew out the torches and the castle shook from its foundations which made Harmen fall to the floor. It felt as if a giant had landed right on top of the castle and then the Pale Death of the Triarchy began to laugh.