WILOW-Ch.435: Change of Plans
Red Keep, King's Landing
POV of Domeric Bolton
Domeric turned the corner and walked up to the two men who were guarding the Tyrell siblings' room.
He put a sound muffling charm around them.
The men must have noticed some difference as they turned to look around, but it was too late.
"Stupefy, Imperio."
One man went slack and fell on the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, while the other looked at him without any change in his face.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Ser David Rivers." The man replied, "I'm from a small town in…" The knight was about to begin telling everything about his past when Domeric interrupted him.
"No. That is enough." He said, frowning, "Why is a knight wearing the garb of a common soldier and doing guard duty?"
"It was an order from King Stannis." The man replied, "His grace suspects that someone will come to rescue Loras and Margaery Tyrell. So, he has put their body doubles inside the room and filled the whole corridor with men."
"I see. Body doubles, huh." He said.
This was bad news for Domeric's plans. If the people here weren't the real Loras and Margaery, it meant they were being held somewhere else entirely.
And that meant a large part of Domeric's plans were rendered useless. If Loras and Margaery were being held in another tower, it meant they couldn't use the tunnel they'd come through to escape.
Domeric would therefore need to find a new escape route.
"Do you know where the real Tyrell siblings are?" he asked.
"Don't know for sure." The man replied, "But I've heard rumors that they're being kept at the top of the Tower of the Hand."
Tower of the Hand? This was worse than Domeric had anticipated.
The White Sword Tower, where he was now, was situated on the outer edge of the castle grounds. The Tower of the Hand, on the other hand, was almost in the center of the castle grounds.
The cave tunnels they'd infiltrated didn't lead all the way to The Tower of the Hand.
This meant Domeric would have to use magical means to get there. The easiest way would be to fly directly to his destination using his hoverboard.
But the real problem wasn't getting there, it was getting out.
He could use his hoverboard to get to the Tower of the Hand, but after finding Loras and Margaery Tyrell, he could no longer use magical escape routes.
If he were going to reveal his magical secrets to others, he wouldn't have gone through all this trouble in the first place.
Nope. He couldn't reveal his secret now. That would give those who didn't want him to become Emperor the perfect opportunity for rebellion.
No outsider should learn the secret of his being a wizard until he has established his empire and secured firm control over Westeros.
In this situation, the most logical solution would be to evacuate the siblings using his wyverns. However, wyverns couldn't carry too many people at once.
He could evacuate himself, Loras, and Margaery, but evacuating Varko, Raksa, and Sandor at the same time wouldn't be possible.
At that moment, Domeric realized he would most likely have to carry out this rescue alone, unless something disrupted his plan again.
"Obliviate. Confundus." Using the Obliviate spell, he erased the man's memories of their conversations and then cast a confusion spell on the man.
The man looked confused now.
"Rennervate." Then, with a Reviving Spell, Domeric woke up the other man he had just knocked unconscious and cast the same spells on him before removing the sound barrier and leaving the area.
Once he was back inside the safe room, he called Varko again.
"Your majesty," Varko said.
"The Tyrell siblings inside the room are body doubles." He said, "The plan to escape from the tunnel is not feasible anymore. Go back to the cave and call Bronn. Tell him to use one of the few boats we'd captured to come and take you."
"What about you, your majesty?" Varko asked, worry lacing his voice.
"I'll be fine. I've got another lead on the Tyrell siblings that I need to check on." He said, "Don't worry about me."
"But, your majesty…"
"I'll be fine, Varko. Now go back. It's an order." Varko looked really conflicted but then nodded.
"We'll go back down. But we're not leaving until we know that you're safe." Varko said, "And if you're captured, then we'll come to save you no matter what."
He opened his mouth to speak, but then slowly closed it and nodded.
"Very well then." He said, "I'll call you once I find the Tyrell siblings."
With that, he cut the connection and equipped his camouflage cloak.
Then he summoned his hoverboard from his inventory, enlarged the window in the room, and flew out of there.
He flew high in the air before he looked down with night vision and found the Tower of the Hand.
It was one of the taller towers, if not the tallest, in the Red Keep.
He flew to the top room of the tower through its wide balcony, sent his hoverboard back to inventory, then took out his wand and cast the Homenum Revelio spell once again.
Inside the room were two people: a man lying on a bed and a woman sitting beside him in a chair.
Outside the room, he could see half a dozen men lunging around and sitting in a circle, and probably playing some kind of card game.
Still under the camouflage cloak, he snuck inside the room and walked up to the two siblings.
Loras Tyrell, if the man was indeed Loras and not another body double, looked in terrible health. He had a fever and looked pale from blood loss.
He also had his whole chest covered in bandages, which had some blood on them, and from the smell of it, it looked infected.
At this point, he was pretty sure that the guy was real Loras Tyrell, as Stannis would not make an injured man act as a decoy.
Still, just to be sure, he looked in Margaery's eyes and read her thoughts.
Worry for her brother's life…
Worry for herself…
Anger at King Stannis for hurting his brother….
Wondering if someone will come to rescue her…
Wondering what King Stannis will do to them both if the armies outside attack….
Wondering if she could seduce one of the knights waiting outside and use his help to escape…
'Hmm… definitely Margaery Tyrell.' He thought.
He went back to the balcony and unequipped the camouflage cloak.
Then he took out his communication mirror and called Vothora and Roghomyr. After giving a few instructions to the wyvern skinchangers, he cut the call and called Varko.
He told Varko that he had found the Tyrell siblings on the top floor of the Tower of the Hand and that he would rescue them there with the help of wyverns.
Then readied himself, walked back inside the room, and knocked on the wall. Margaery looked up toward him, and her eyes widened in shock.
He had already put a sound barrier around the room, so he didn't need to worry about her making any noise. But she didn't know about that, so he gestured for her to stay quiet.
He walked up to her and whispered.
"Lady Margaery. My name is Domeric Bolton. I'm here to rescue you."
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.436: Granddaughter of Olenna Tyrell
Ch.437: Escape from the Tower
Ch.438: Whispers of a Devil