Chapter 19 (a)

Two Moons Earlier…

Varys walked down the now quiet halls of the red keep, heading for his chambers.

The small council meetings had become particularly tiresome lately now that the rebellion of Stannis Baratheon had been put down and King Joffrey's reign was secure.

It was so secure in the fact that the king did not see the need to come to the small council meetings at all and had left the care and running of the realm to his mother, Petyr Baelish, Grand Maester Pycelle, and himself.

And this is the boy that is to lead us into the creation of a dynasty that is to last a thousand years, pah! Varys thought. He is more like Aerys the mad come again.

It certainly didn't help that the king had survived the siege and run from the battle like a sniveling little coward. In the end, it had been his rather small uncle who had chosen to rally the troops and had led the final attack where he nearly died from a wayward blade.

It was all very…interesting.

And then of course, even before the final battle, Prince Caspian had vanished…perished in a shipwreck several miles south of Dorne.

Gods only know how a storm had pushed him that far.

Though Varys had no feelings on the part of the second Baratheon prince himself, he would be completely addled in his brains if he thought Joffrey would make a better king.

But no, it seemed all trueborn children of Robert Baratheon were doomed to be lost to the whims of fate.

The spymaster chuckled to himself as he entered his room and shut the door behind him.

And now the boy king wanted to go to war with the north and Eddard Stark for being a treasonous dog and escaping the king's justice.

Now that Tywin Lannister had arrived in the capital, those efforts had been stymied somewhat.

Varys was under no illusions that the old lion thought the north must pay for their treachery against the crown, but how that was brought about was now up to the new hand.

Varys was often called a man who served the realm first and though this was indeed true, he was also a man who detested war. He hated things that he didn't know about or couldn't explain and prided himself on knowing things before anyone else did.

It was what made him so good at what he did and why he had made himself invaluable in the councils. Information was his business and it was the way he secured more power for himself.

But at the moment, there was no information to be had.

Other than the fact that the realm might go through another civil war, this time with the north, Varys had no idea what to expect.

And he didn't like it.

He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed near the open window. He was really beginning to feel the ache in his joints as the weather was growing somewhat colder.

What was the expression of the Starks again?

Oh yes…Winter is coming.

Perhaps this time they are more right than they think, Varys thought as he absent-mindedly rubbed his hands together.

He didn't put much stock in older stories and folk legends but as of late, some truly…odd things had been happening.

Varys despised all concepts of magic and things he couldn't explain because of what happened to him when he was young so when things began happening that he couldn't explain, he did his utmost to figure it out.

But this….

He had deliberately kept this information from the king and his mother as he knew they would dismiss it as nonsense.

But this was something he couldn't ignore.

Varys slowly rose and sat down at the writing desk that was opposite the window. The window was open to let in a warm breeze but there was something in the air that he didn't like. Several large books were sitting on the edge of the desk, books that he had had to go digging into the bowels of the red keep for. Varys was the only one still living that knew the red keep like the back of his hand or…at least he hoped he was the only one.

However after several rather…disturbing dreams of late, the eunuch had begun to wonder if something deeper wasn't going on.

That was when one of his little birds came to him with a most alarming report from the Riverlands. He had sent one of them there to keep an eye on the Tullys especially since the land was still of interest to Lannister forces.

Along the way, the little bird had somehow become hopelessly lost and had somehow ended up on the Isle of Faces in which they had had a most…interesting encounter.

Varys ran a hand over the cover of the worn manuscript on his desk. He had only been able to read the first page of it before he was interrupted and dragged off to deal with some court business on behalf of the mad boy king.

He didn't entirely mind, however.

The book itself contained some of the rarest information on the happenings of Westeros before the Andals arrived and when the First Men and Children of the Forest still were the land's primary residents.

After many years of war between the First Men and the Children of the Forest, their respective wise men concluded that the bloodshed had gone on for too long.

They came together to make peace on the Isle of Faces in the God's Eye, agreeing to the Pact which would give the First Men all the land except for the deep forests which would remain the dominion of the Children. The First Men agreed that they would cut down no more trees. So that the old gods could bear witness to the historic agreement, all of the trees on the island would have a face carved into it and the order of the Green Men would be created to guard them.

Varys had at one time believed it all to be fairy tales told to children to lull them to sleep at night. Who wouldn't after all when one was told that the Green Men were thought to be horned and have dark green skin? It was also believed that they possessed strange powers, that the life of a forest was in their blood and that all in the past following the agreement who meant to do the trees ill on the isle of faces had met a terrible end.

It was all nonsense of course…

That was until one of his little birds that had gotten lost and found its way there told him that the green men were in fact real and they had healed him when he had fallen injured.

Again…Varys wasn't so prone to trust the simple word of mouth here even if the child who had told him was one of his little birds.

So he had sent another child there to learn as much as he could about this isle of faces.

A few weeks later, the child had returned, bringing with it a weirwood sapling and claiming only that Varys would need to visit the island himself to find the information that he was seeking.

As one might imagine, such an idea did not appeal to the Spider at all and so he had refused to even entertain the idea of leaving the keep and the capital and making for the

Riverlands, a place where the political situation was still somewhat uneasy.

But then the bizarre and unexplainable dreams had come…dreams where he had been standing in a forest of trees with intricate, strange, and beautiful faces carved into their trunks.

He had been in the process of turning around so he might see them all and only when he had turned completely around so he was where he was when he started, the eunuch was shocked out of his rather garish robes to see a man standing no more than five feet from him.

But this wasn't just any man.

He was dressed in strange garments and there was a long peculiar talisman hanging from his neck. But it was his dark green skin, the small horns protruding from his head, and his deep silver eyes that had struck Varys the most.

The man had simply stared at him and hadn't said anything even though Vary was in full command of his vocal cords.

The one thing that the Spider didn't seem to have control over however was his feet. No matter what he did or how he willed himself, he didn't seem to be able to move.

All he could do was stand there and watch and wait as the man came closer until he was towering over him and Varys had to tilt his head almost all the way up to see him.

"Who are you?" he had asked. "What do you want?"

The man hadn't said anything but instead, he had reached out his hand towards the eunuch and motioned it as if beckoning him to come forward.

Despite him not being able to move his feet, Varys was in control of the rest of his body and something inside compelled him to reach out and take the man's hand.

So he did.

The instant he did so however, a few things happened.

A streak of lightning had arced across the sky in that instant followed by a crash of thunder, longer and louder than Varys had ever heard before. Finally…a cold wind began to blow, so frigid in fact that it chilled the eunuch to the bone.

An instant later, Varys had awakened in his bed covered in sweat and trembling. He had been unable to sleep for the rest of the night and had been searching franticly ever since for information on the Isle of Faces and who might be living there.

Information had been scarce, to say the least…and Varys was beginning to conclude that there was only one way to find out what he needed to know.

But there was still time…still time.

And at the moment, he had been receiving interesting reports from the east from his old friend Orius a man well acquainted with the political situation in Yunkai and the other cities in Slaver's Bay…reports about a certain dragon queen who was not as dead as Robert Baratheon may have hoped she was.

Ω

Caspian blade was at the man's throat so fast and the man himself pushed against the wall of the alley that Orin was unable to see it.

"Who are you?" he demanded again. "And I don't want a repeat of your name, I know what it is. How do you know who I am and how do you know Varys?"

The man called Orius glanced around the alleyway where they were standing before turning calmly back to the prince. "Do you think the Free Cities are so free of their intrigues unlike Westeros your grace? There are spies and foolhardy men everywhere you look."

"So I've been told," Caspian snarled. "Now speak quickly before I make it so that you do not speak at all."

"Ever like the late King Robert you are," the man said, his unflappable attitude beginning to seriously irritate Caspian.

"Do you truly wish to see how like him I can be," Caspian growled? "Because I promise there are a few things I did inherit from the man who was known as the Demon of the Trident."

He pressed the point of StormBreaker against the man's throat hard enough to make drops of blood form. "Now speak before I show them to you."

The man called Orius seemed to recognize the fact that Caspian was being serious when he saw the few droplets of blood spill onto the collar of his tunic.

"Very well," he said with a sigh. "Does it really strike you as odd that Varys, a man who is Essosi by birth would be without his share of connections here as well as Westeros?"

"No," Caspian said shortly. "It does not surprise me at all. What does surprise me is seeing a man who claims to know him to corner me in the middle of the night in an alley in an unknown hostile city. So you can see my dilemma in believing that you are not as full of shit as you sound."

The sarcasm was practically dripping acid into the air and he was surprised himself at his acerbic tone.

The man laughed. "I suppose you want some form of proof now don't you?"

"That would be preferable yes," Caspian said making no effort to remove StormBreaker from Orius's throat.

"Very well. What if I were to tell you that Varys spent some time in Yunkai for several years before leaving for Westeros and that he stayed in my home during that time?"

Caspian shook his head. "Not good enough. If you truly know Varys like you say you do, then you will tell me something about him that few know."

In the light, the man's brown eyes seemed to glow and for a moment Caspian wondered if he were some sort of sorcerer.

"Very well your grace, but I will do you one better and tell you a secret that I know of you that Varys knows instead," the man said. "Suppose I were to tell you that for some of us in Varys' inner councils, it is known as far as Free Cities that you are the only trueborn son of Robert Baratheon and the rest of your siblings are the products of a different man."

Caspian was so shocked that he lowered StormBreaker not entirely by choice, only because his hand was shaking.

"W-What?" he asked.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Have your attention now don't I? And do not bother placing that blade against my throat and trying to deny what we all know to be true. You are the only one of the royal children with hair of black and eyes of blue. All the rest resemble Lannisters with hair of gold and eyes of green."

"How could you possibly know that?" Caspian demanded. For the moment he wasn't raising his blade again but perhaps that was because he was too in shock.

"The master of whispers is not the only one who carries secrets," Orius replied absently wiping away the blood from his neck where Caspian had nearly stabbed him. "Did you really think that Varys did not maintain his contacts in Essos even after all these years he had been gone? He has connections in every city prince Caspian. Yunkai is merely one of them. In the meantime, he has sent letters to every one of those connections seeking information about the dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen who seemed to have evaded an assassination attempt by your father. Imagine his surprise when his connection in Qarth informed him that she was alive and well and had just left the city for Astapor where she wished to acquire the Unsullied."

By all the gods, how far do the Spider's webs reach? Caspian thought incredulously.

"And does he know of my existence?" he asked.

"Not yet," Orius replied. "But you can be assured that it will not be long before he does know."

"And who is going to tell him?" Caspian demanded. "You?"

"It could be me, it could be others," Orius replied with the same nonchalant air that the second prince had found most irritating about the spider. "Do not make the mistake in thinking I am the only pair of eyes he has in the city."

"Oh, believe me, that was not my intent," Caspian snapped. "What I wish to know is whether or not you are for us or against us."

"Us your grace?" Orius asked appearing amused. He seemed to be middle-aged with dark hair and olive skin that was so characteristic of those in the Free Cities. "It is common knowledge that the Targaryen had taken Astapor, but the news that she had the assistance of a former Baratheon is fresh."

Caspian decided then that it didn't really matter what the man knew. He was unarmed and if he did anything that Caspian found to be off base, he would gut him like a fish.

"And what makes you think that I am offering her my assistance?" he asked calmly lowering the blade even more but still keeping it visible. "The distance between our cities is enough reason for you to think otherwise."

"You are here and she is in Astapor yes," Orius said waving his hand dismissively. "On the very day, Kraznys has killed a letter arrived from Astapor confirming such things to me that the stag and the dragon have joined forces. You didn't expect those nobles and masters who did manage to escape the city would seal their lips once they arrived in Yunkai did you? As such, your description was circulated among those in power in the city."

"Then why was I not stopped at the city gates?" Caspian demanded. "They saw who I was. Why was my party not pulled aside?"

"I guess that the description given to the Wise Masters of Yunkai was a man young and hardy and handsome," Orius shrugged. "On the day Kraznys was burned with dragon fire and Astapor was taken you appeared at the right hand of Daenerys Targaryen as her right hand in armor and clean dress. Now you appear as one who suffers from the heat and dust and dirt of travel, not someone to bear watching."

Caspian blinked. "But that is the height of stupidity. All those who travel acquire some manner of grime. Is that all that is necessary to turn me from one person to another?"

Orius appeared amused. "Power tends to make one paranoid or stupid. Seeing as how it has been weeks since Astapor was taken and the dragon queen has not made a move in the direction of this city, the Wise Masters are inclined to think that she is not going to attack in the manner she did before. Some believe that Yunkai will go beneath her notice.

Others believe that eight thousand Unsullied is not enough to take this city. But as a precaution that is why the Second Sons now reside outside of our walls."

He muttered a curse in High Valyrian. "Barbarians they are."

Caspian blinked before getting back to the point. "Very well then. You have convinced me that you know Varys and that you know who I am and in whose service I am. But you have yet to answer the most burning question that I have. What do you want? If you had wanted me dead there is no way you would have approached me and I would have been dragged before the Wise Masters long before this. So I can only imagine that you approached me first because there is something that you want. Now, what is it?"

Orius smiled. "I simply want the betterment of my city, your grace."

"And the Wise Masters are not doing it for you?"

"I have a particular…interest in seeing them destroyed yes," Orius said. "And at the moment, green as you are, you have the best chance of making that happen."

"A compliment and an insult in one," Caspian mused. "You spiders are all alike aren't you?"

Orius only chuckled. "Now I will take that as an insult, your grace. We are not all the same."

I can see that the one thing you do have in common is that you all speak in riddles.

"The betterment of your city," Caspian said, reminded eerily of Varys whose chief motivation was the betterment of his own realm. "Now tell me Orius, what exactly does that look like?"

"The elimination of the Wise Masters," Orius said simply.

"And who would replace them?" Caspian asked. "You?"

Orius laughed as if Caspian had made a joke. "You should know better than anyone by your grace that the power does not lie in the one who wears the crown, but the one who carries out the decrees."

"And so you wish to carry out decrees?" Caspian asked skeptically. "Forgive me for finding that somewhat hard to believe."

Orius waved his hand dismissively. "I am not responsible for what you believe."

"No," Caspian said slowly. "I suppose you are not. And so you wish to help me?"

"Is that so hard to perceive?"

"Yes."

"And why is that?"

Caspian finally placed StormBreaker back in its sheath on his back and folded his arms across his chest. "I find that it is very difficult to meet someone in the Free Cities or in Westeros for that matter who does something for nothing. You must have something to gain out of this but for some reason, you are choosing not to tell me."

"You are right, I do," Orius said. "But for the moment my reasons are my own and you don't need to know them. What is necessary however is that you need my help."

"Do I?" Caspian asked. "Forgive me Orius but my plans seem to be going off fine with or without your input."

"Oh, they did they?" Orius asked with that irritating smile of his that reminded Caspian eerily of Varys. "Do not show false bravado as your father once did by not admitting that you need help. You and a captain and twenty Unsullied are in this city in possession of a large number of spices that you intend to sell as a cover I am sure for trying to find a way to take apart the city from within. For what other reason could you be here other than you have been charged to come by the queen herself?"

Gods, how much does this man know?

"And the only reason the queen could have for sending you here is to find a way to get inside the city from within, to lower the defenses so that an army could march inside and take command. It isn't an original idea really, the most common thing the Targaryens are known for is their ability to be conquerors. Sometimes that's a bad thing and sometimes it can be a good thing."

Caspian was beginning to become impatient. "As informative as this conversation has been, I am more interested in getting to the part where perhaps you can help me. And if you cannot then this has been an enormous waste of my time."

"I can see you have inherited your father's impatience," Orius replied and Caspian bristled as he always did when his father was brought up and comparisons were drawn between the two of them.

"My point is," the man continued. "Your endeavor requires assistance to go through and I am in a position to provide it."

"Really?" Caspian asked. "And how do you plan to do that? I haven't seen the entirety of this city yet but from what I have seen it appears to be almost impenetrable."

"No city is impenetrable your grace," Orius replied. "I would think you would know this being the grandson of Tywin Lannister. There are always weaknesses to exploit in every city. For instance, you walk to the entrance of this alley and look to the south of the city, you will see one."

His curiosity mounting with the man's words, Caspian face twisted into a frown, and walked slowly past Orius to the front of the alley where he did indeed look south.

It was pretty easy to see what the man was talking about the moment he turned the corner. Sure enough, Caspian saw what he was talking about right away.

The street they were standing on was close to the wall on the left-hand side. Orin had said earlier it would be the most inconspicuous place to send a raven to Daenerys and the prince had agreed.

In the gathering dark, it was getting hard to see the street, and torches on the side of the walls cast long shadows on the walls making the effect eerie. The sound of people in the street had become very much less and Caspian was glad they had been speaking barely above a whisper for if they had not, their voices would surely have carried. The houses seemed to loom in on them on either side of the street and Caspian could see how someone who hadn't lived in this city before would find it intimidating.

From where they were standing, Caspian could see clearly down the street to the end where the first street connected to the next and that there was a grate in the wall that separated this section of the street from the next.

Caspian frowned, he had seen them in the outer walls of the city but he didn't think that there were any within the walls.

What he also hadn't noticed was the fact that the grate was only an opening for what looked like a pipe that was draining the water from the streets and which might have led to another level of the city. In the gathering dark, it was difficult to make out the size of it but Caspian could tell that it was large enough for a man to go through.

"Are those throughout the city?" he asked and Orius nodded. "Indeed your grace. There are four placed in the outer walls of the city and several in each wall of the city so that the runoff water may drain from the streets. Because the city is placed on an incline leading upward all of the water drains down. They collect the runoff from the rain and drain it out of the city towards the stream that is outside which ultimately leads out into Slaver's Bay and the ocean beyond."

"I see," Caspian said, wondering why one earth he hadn't noticed this earlier. "Which means that it would be adequate for my purposes."

"Depending on what those purposes are your grace, yes I think that it would suit our needs quite well."

Caspian blinked and turned back to the man, raising an eyebrow at him. "Our needs?"

"Indeed," Orius replied as calmly as if they were discussing the weather. "I would have thought my offer of assistance was made clear from the start."

Caspian looked at him warily. He was hesitant to trust a man he had just met and whose only redeeming factor was that he knew Varys and was to Yunkai what the Spider was to King's Landing. He had always been cautious around the master of whispers as the man's motives for doing what he did was the biggest mystery of all. It was ironic given the fact that he knew things around King's Landing that few others knew.

But at the moment what other choice did he have?

And that was one thing that Caspian hated above all others…the feeling as if he were being backed into a corner.

Orius didn't seem malicious but that didn't really mean anything. Varys wasn't malicious either and yet the man had a dangerous power.

And that was knowledge.

It was something that all those in power or who wanted power needed.

And it was something Caspian needed as well.

But he also realized at that moment that he needed all the allies he could get. Yunkai wasn't a city at the moment that was ripe for the taking and if they wanted to invade it and successfully occupy it, he was going to need more help than he currently had.

So he took a deep breath and opened his mouth. "And how exactly do you plan to help me, my lord?"

Orius smiled as if they were finally on the same page. "For me to explain that to you, your grace, we will need to retire to a place that is not so open. We have already discussed far too much in this alleyway as it is."

"And what place would you suggest?" Caspian asked feeling curious, cautious, and somewhat exasperated.

"The one place in this city that I know to be the safest and in which there are no spies," the mad said. As he moved towards the other end of the alley. "My home."

Ω