Ch.53

(Renly Baratheon POV)

It has been almost a year since my older brother died, with Joffrey the Bastard, taking the throne. From what I hear he is worse than my older brother, almost as bad as the Mad King. Stannis also refused to back down from his claim, while telling me to bend the knee. I also heard he has a red priestess whispering in his ear, though what she is telling him, I can only imagine.

As for me, I have been gathering my army of loyal men, which now amasses to roughly one hundred thousand. This easily outnumbers every other pretender King by more than three times. I married Margaery Tyrell to solidify the alliance and loyalty of House Tyrell. Though thankfully, her brother is here as he is very close with me, he is also the Lord Commander of my Kingsguard and has been the biggest emotional support for me so far. Osmond has also been extremely helpful with being my King's Hand.

"My King, a woman is here to see you. It appears to be Catelyn Stark," one of my guards says to me as I am watching the tourney I am hosting alongside my wife. As this is to boost my men's morale before we march to war.

"The tourney is almost over, I will deal with her afterward," I say to the guard who nods as the last two contestants face off, Loras Tyrell my wife's brother, and an unknown very large knight.

"I will speak with her while the King and Queen watch the end of the Tourney," Osmond says following the guard to Catelyn Stark who is among the crowd watching the tourney.

My wife and I started the match, though I had faith in Loras as he was an extremely good knight. Regardless of what others say about him. Though surprisingly the unknown Knight beats Loras quite easily too. The knight then takes off his helmet showing it was a woman the whole time, not just any woman either but an old friend of mine, Brienne of House Tarth.

"Congratulations! Brienne of House Tarth! What is the reward you seek for this victory?!" I ask her with a smile on my face.

"To serve you, my King, as one of your Kingsguard," Brienne says to me surprising me and everyone here once again.

"Done!" I say surprising everyone as I knew Brienne since we were little, plus today in front of everyone she showed just how good of a fighter she is.

I then walk back to my tent with my wife to wait for Catelyn there, as I can see Osmond talking with her. A few minutes after getting back to my tent, Osmond, Catelyn, and Brienne enter the tent. Margaery being the gracious hostess she is greets them warmly as I look at Catelyn trying to guess why she is here. Though from the look Osmond is giving me I know the reason, as we suspected.

"What brings you here Lady Stark?" I ask her.

"My son and King in the north, Robb Stark sent me here to secure an alliance," Catelyn says to me. Osmond and I have discussed potential alliances in the realm, the Starks were the first. Though after the war I will have to find a way to get them to kneel down to me or go to another war to force them to kneel back down to the South.

"Will your son bend the knee to me?" I ask already guessing the answer, but want to make sure.

"No, he will not… though we would both benefit from an alliance," Catelyn says to me, as Osmond and I share another look.

"Let me think about it. I will have your answer tomorrow," I say to her and have Brienne escort her to a tent she can stay in the meantime.

"What will you decide Renly?" Margaery asks me looking between Osmond and me, as she knows outside her brother the only other man I trust completely is Osmond.

"Osmond and I have already talked about potential alliances… The Starks were the highest on the list, though it seems after the war is won, we will have to find a way to get them to bend their knee. For now, we will ally with them, and in the meantime find a way to convince them or force them to ultimately bend the knee," I say to Margaery as she is my wife and I trust her enough to not betray me. Plus outside Osmond, myself, and Renly, now she knows the true plans. So if it gets out I know who betrayed me.

"I see…" Margaery says while nodding her head understanding the plans.

That night Margaery tries to seduce me, but I can not bring myself to bed her. As I am just not attracted to women, she offered to have her brother help, but that just disgusted me. The next morning, I told Catelyn I would ally with her son and tomorrow she would prepare to head home to relay the information. Though another surprise visitor came, Petyr Baelish, the slimmest man I have ever met, worse than the Spider.

He came to meet Catelyn about exchanging hostages, Jaime Lannister who they caught with Robb winning battle after battle against the Lannisters and Catelyn's other two daughters. Catelyn seemed to hesitantly agree to this request, but she would first need to return to her family's camp. Then I received word that Stannis is almost here to parley with me in person. Now it seems I have another issue to deal with.

A few hours later Stannis rode to shore with a few of his men to speak with me. In his company I could see, Sir Davos Seaworth his King's Hand, and the red priestess I heard so much about. Though it appears Osmond dislikes the priestess as he is shooting her glares which she just smiles at. I rode down with my Kingsguard and Osmond, with Catelyn coming too as she is speaking for my allies in the north.

"Seems you changed your banner, brother," I say seeing the crowned Stag in front of a roaring flame.

"My King Stannis has taken the fiery heart of the Lord of Light for his sigil," the red priestess says for my brother I just raise an eyebrow at that.

"Plus it would be confusing should we have the same sigil," Stannis says with his dry humor, while I just grunt in response.

"Enough pleasantries, why are you here? To finally renounce your claim and follow me?" I say with a smirk at the end, though it appears Catelyn is getting annoyed at this talk.

"To ask you in person one last time. Will you stand aside brother and bend the knee? I am the rightful King and the Prince that was promised!" Stannis says though the last part confuses me, as from what I heard that is the prophecy that the Targaryen Prince was obsessed with before he was killed.

"Well, you wasted your time then brother. I will not let go of my rightful place as the King," I say to him and he glares at me with a hateful look.

"Both of you are brothers! Stop fighting each other and the real enemy! The Lannisters!" Catelyn says to us both, but we ignore her making her more annoyed.

"Then I bid you farewell brother. As this will be the last time we see each other," Stannis says which confuses me a bit like he is saying goodbye, but I figure he means as brothers. Since the next time will be enemies most definitely.

Later that night as Catelyn was speaking with me about the meeting between Stannis and me, Brienne tried to correct Catelyn her way of speaking to me. Brienne seemed annoyed with how Catelyn was purposely not using the correct titles when addressing me, but I did not care. Then as I was looking in the mirror a shadowy creature formed behind me making the two women gasp and stare in disbelief.

The creature then stabbed me in the back, thankfully the spell I had that Osmond taught me stopped the stabbing. The spell broke as it was a one-time life-saving spell and takes a lot of time and resources to cast. Though it did its job saving my life, Brienne broke her surprise and reacted drawing her sword and swinging at the shadowy creature. I rolled away from the creature which then lunged at me again as Brienne's sword passed through it without effect.

I was muttering an incantation to the spell 'Force Blast' which would forcibly push back everything around me in a 10ft (3m) radius, 10ft(3m) more away from me. Just as I was finishing the incantation Osmond entered the tent and cast a spell I do not recognize but made the creature screech in pain before bursting apart. Brienne and Catelyn stood still in confusion and surprise at what just occurred as the whole camp became very active at my attempted assassination.

"What just happened?" Brienne said snapping everyone from their stupor.

"A demonic creature was summoned to kill Renly. Though luckily it seemed what I taught Renly came into effect," Osmond says to them and I let out a relieved sigh as Osmond smiles at me.

"Stannis! He did this!" Brienne says with hate in her voice.

"Most likely, though it was made from that red priestess following him around," Osmond says and Brienne just growls in anger.

"Brienne escort Lady Stark back to her tent. I need to speak with Osmond alone and have the guard double around my tent please," I say to Brienne who nods her head while gently nudging Catelyn out of the then. Osmond then walks over to me as I sit down and pour myself a drink having just experienced my almost death.

"That creature is called 'Shadow Demon' and is one of the best demons for assassination. Though what confuses me is that the shadow demon which tried to kill you was tainted with draconic energy. One that reminds me of a cult from my old world. A very dark cult and one that could bring this world to its knees. If your brother is involved with this cult… that would mean he is your greatest enemy and threat," Osmond says to me and I just down my wine while shaking my head in disbelief.

"What cult?" I say after taking in everything Osmond just told me.

"The cult which is against the religion of my god Bahamut. The cult of Tiamat. That red priestess was a cultist of Tiamat, I thought I could sense a familiar energy from her. Next time I see her she must die at all costs, she is spreading this cult and this cult is world-ending," Osmond says to me in a very serious and grave tone, sending shivers down my spine as he is rarely like this.

"Fuck… ok… we need to plan around this now," I say while rubbing my forehead and drinking more wine as Osmond nods his head to me with the same serious face.

"Husband!" I hear Margaery say after rushing into the tent and her brother right behind her, with the same worry on his face. Margaery hugs me tightly as Loras gives me a very concerned look.

"I am fine. Fortunately, Osmond was there to save me, as the creature was immune to normal weapons since Brienne could not harm it," I say to them as they know Osmond and I have access to magic. Though no one else knows that, except now Brienne and Catelyn know.

"Osmond please tell them what you told me," I say while pouring myself more wine and handing Margaery a glass too.

As he explained to them that the red priestess was a cult member of a very dangerous magical group. Both became very concerned and nervous while not knowing ways to protect me or fight them. Though Osmond and I ensured them that we will come up with a plan to fight against them. The next morning Catelyn was escorted back to her family to deliver them the news I have allied with them. While Petyr Baelish returned back to King's Landing most likely, I was very tempted to have him killed, as I hated the man a lot. Though I was honor bound to not harm the messenger, at least for now as I had an image to uphold.