Chapter 151: The Ever-Growing Tension
The small council chamber felt smaller with every new problem placed upon its table.
Artos sat at its head with one elbow resting against the arm of his chair. Ethan stood beside the table, reading from several pieces of parchment covered in names, locations and reports gathered from across King's Landing.
Renly Baratheon sat opposite Tyrion Lannister. Maester Marwyn occupied the chair beside them, while Lord Varys remained near the end of the table with his hands hidden inside his sleeves.
"The disturbance has been settled for now," Ethan said. "The streets around the Gate of the Gods are quiet again. No more public sermons, no armed crowds and no attacks against the City Watch."
"For now," Artos repeated.
"For now," Ethan agreed. "It isn't finished."
Artos had already known that.
Conditions throughout King's Landing had improved since Artos became Hand. Food entered the city regularly. Bread had become cheaper. The City Watch was better disciplined, and fewer men disappeared into cells merely because a gold cloak disliked the way they looked.
Yet King's Landing remained overcrowded, filthy and angry. A problem no one could really resolve.
Good rule could ease those problems. It could not make them disappear.
"The population is too large," Marwyn said. "The city was never built to hold this many people. Better laws and full granaries will help, but neither creates more room. Thousands live pressed together in alleys where sickness moves faster than any guard."
"So we need more than effective lordship," Artos said.
"You need time, more wells, better sewers and new settlements beyond the walls of King's Landing, My Lord. None of those things can be built in a day." Marwyn said
"A shame. Robert prefers problems that can be killed before supper."
Renly almost smiled, but Ethan's expression remained serious.
"There is more, my lord."
"Of course there is." Artos now frustrated.
"Some of those supporting the disturbances are old knights and former guardsmen. Men we have dismissed from the City Watch, the gatehouses and several royal posts." Ethan reported the main issue.
"Men dismissed for taking bribes, beating smallfolk for no apparent reason and selling royal steel." Artos now in deliberation.
"Aye. Those men."
Ethan placed another parchment before him.
"They've begun training people in hidden yards, abandoned warehouses and beneath several septs. Nothing large enough to call an army yet, but larger than a gathering of angry beggars."
"How many?" Renly asked.
"We don't know." Ethan said with no smile in his face.
"You don't know?" Renly asked quite mockingly.
Ethan clarified"Every time we discover one group, it scatters. Most hide their weapons, return to their trades and gather elsewhere after dark. It's mostly based in deep slums and streets." Ethan hesitates and said "Also With many Common Folks and Septons involves themselves in this, it is difficult for us unless Crown want us to make a bloody example of many Important people of Faith." He said finally giving the real situation.
Renly leaned forward. "Then arrest the septons leading them. Hang the old knights and put every man carrying unlawful steel with wrong intention into a cell."
Tyrion turned his cup slowly between his hands.
"And what charge would you arrest them? Because all we know right now that it is going to happen. Nothing has happened yet"
"Conspiracy against the Crown. That is the charge we should put against them." Renly roared"Are we going to wait for them to do something henious. Is that the Small Council has fallen to. Are we so afraid that he we can't even protect our own Capital."
Tyrion ever the clever guy." And anger the faith and people. I think we can deal with this in peace and talks. We don't need a bloody mess into our capital when things are so peaceful in the realm after all the Trial situation." He paused a bit and thought about the matter and continued.
"And the big question here Have they declared against the Crown?" Tyrion said obviously his inclinations towards doing more Politics rather than relying on violence and blood. Although a Smart and clever man but naive about the realm, true realm.
Artos laughed off and scoffs at Tyrion point of view "Peaceful? They are gathering armed men inside the capital. It isn't that peaceful. Realm is never peacefull Lord Tyrion. It may seem like in the Castle but it isn't the right Lord Varys "
Varys who is sitting in the Council nodded and spoke with a minced smile"Ofcourse My Lord. Realm is a always in precarious situation. That's why we are here to resolve it for the Crown and the realm, My Lord."
Artos laughed it off at that.
Renly glared at Tyrion. "Yes, So Do not try to play with words, Lord Tyrion."
"I'm trying to prevent you from playing with swords."
Artos looked toward Varys. "Any thing from you Varys. Let's see your efforts to resolve this."
Every eye shifted toward the Spider.
Varys offered a small, modest smile.
"Ofcourse My Lord. I found something."
Artos suprised at that and got interested in this."What?"
"Gold, my lord," he said. "Rather a great deal of it. Gold dragons have been passing through the lower streets in recent weeks. Poor men who could not buy supper now possess new boots, weapons and enough coin to feed their families."
"And From where?" Artos asked squinting his eyes.
"The source has proved difficult to trace. It enters through merchants, money changers and small shipments unloaded at night. My little birds followed several payments, but each path ended with no one to pursue."
Artos watched him closely.
It was more useful information than Varys had offered in some time.
"But I got some other information. They are calling themselves Sparrow, the organisation who are planning all this revolt."
Tyrion scoffed"Revolt ? It's a big word. They are harmless infront of the city Watch."
"Harmless men are often turned to dangerous men," Varys said.
"They are armed beggars hiding behind septons. Send the gold cloaks into their alleys and break them before they become bold."
Tyrion shook his head.
"That would give them exactly what they lack."
Renly's eyes narrowed. "And what is that?"
"A reason for the rest of the city to join them."
Silence followed.
"The people have bread," Tyrion continued. "The streets are safer than they were. Wages have improved at the docks, and the Watch is no longer robbing every third merchant entering the gates. Most of the smallfolk have no reason to rise against us."
"Not yet," Ethan added. "If we send soldiers into crowded streets and kill a hundred people in front of their families, they'll have one."
Renly leaned back. "So we do nothing."
"No," Ethan said. "We wait. We use the time to find the leaders. The real leaders, not some starving fool carrying a club because a septon promised him this will give him a grace with seven."
Artos drummed his fingers against the table.
His first instinct was closer to Renly's than Tyrion's. The men gathering in the streets had been warned. Many of their leaders had already proven themselves corrupt, cruel or stupid.
Artos had little patience for men who mistook his restraint for weakness.
He could send the Winterguards and gold cloaks into the lower streets before sunset. By morning, the gatherings would be broken, their weapons seized and their bodies hanging from the walls.
But the hands paying them would remain hidden.
Then another group would rise.
And another.
Sooner or later, thousands of innocent people would die while the true enemy watched from behind locked doors.
"We wait," Artos decided.
Renly looked ready to object.
Artos raised one hand.
"We wait, but we do not sit blind. Ethan, place some men among them. Not gold cloaks. They'll recognise those. I need spies not guards."
"I'll use men from outside the city."
"Find out where they meet, who trains them and where the gold comes from. I want the name of every knight, septon and merchant involved."
"And once we have the names?" Renly asked.
Artos looked at him.
"Then you may have your aggressive action. I will myself go and clean them if I have to."
Renly smiled.
Artos did not.
He already had a suspicion about who might possess enough gold to fund unrest within the capital. A suspicion was not proof, and speaking it before the council would only warn Varys that Artos had begun looking in that direction.
"Until then," Artos continued, "no slaughter in the streets. If they attack the Watch, arrest them. If they preach, listen. If they gather, observe. Nobody draws steel unless they do first."
Ethan nodded. "Understood."
Artos pushed the reports aside.
"One fire at a time. What else?"
Tyrion looked down at the next piece of parchment.
"The Vale."
"Aye. Another headache."
Artos placed three unopened letters upon the table. Each carried the crowned falcon of House Arryn.
"Lady Lysa has ignored every demand concerning the houses that helped Littlefinger hide coin and property in the Vale."
Renly frowned. "She has lost her husband and now rules for a sickly child. Probably the Grief has made her unstable."
Tyrion raised an eyebrow. "That is a gentle way of putting it."
"We can send the order to Lord Royce," Renly said. "The Vale respects him. If Lady Lysa will not act, Lord Yohn will."
Artos considered it.
Under different circumstances, he would have travelled to the Eyrie himself. He wanted to see what Lysa was doing, how young Robert Arryn was being raised and why the woman had become more secretive with every passing month.
But King's Landing was growing restless.
Leaving now would be foolish.
"Write to Lord Royce," Artos said. "Give him the names of every house implicated in Littlefinger's affairs. He may secure the disputed properties and records in the king's name."
"And Lady Lysa?" Tyrion asked.
"I'll send her one final letter."
"What will it say?"
"That if she ignores me again, I'll come to the Eyrie and ask her in person."
Tyrion smiled. "Very Subtle."
"I'm learning."
Artos reached for another report, but Varys spoke first.
"There is one further matter, my lord."
Artos looked at him.
"Lord Stannis."
Renly's expression hardened slightly.
"What has my brother done now?"
"Very little, which is partly the concern. He remains upon Dragonstone, avoids the capital and has ignored several invitations to resume his place on the council."
"That is hardly new," Renly said. "It has been his behaviour these past days, months even."
"About that we may have found the reason for his different behaviour."
Varys folded his hands upon the table."A woman has joined him. A priestess from Asshai who serves a fire god."
"A red priestess," Marwyn said.
Varys nodded.
Artos had seen their temples during his years across the Narrow Sea. The followers of R'hllor worshipped fire and believed Azor Ahai would return to fight a great darkness. Braavos tolerated them as it tolerated most faiths, though even there people watched the red priests carefully.
"What does she want with Stannis?" Artos asked.
"That I can't say I know, My Lord."
Alric glares at Spider and thought.
The Spider had spent months offering fragments disguised as answers. Now information came from him freely: hidden gold in the streets, armed Sparrows and a red priestess whispering into Stannis Baratheon's ear.
Maybe Littlefinger's fall had changed him behaviour Or frightened him, enough to chirp like bird.
Varys had watched one master of secrets stand trial after believing himself untouchable.
Perhaps the Spider now feared that Artos would look toward the other web hanging over the capital.
"You've been unusually useful today, Lord Varys," Artos said.
Varys smiled his small, practiced smile. "I live to serve the realm."
"For a change, I almost believe you."
Renly laughed. Tyrion joined him, while even Ethan failed to hide a grin.
Varys only dipped his head.
"Your praise warms me, my lord."
The council moved through several smaller matters: repairs to the River Gate, two corrupt tax collectors and a dispute between merchants over warehouse space near the Blackwater.
When they finished, Artos rose.
"That will be all."
The councillors gathered their papers and left one by one. Ethan paused near the door, but Artos gave him a small shake of the head.
"Tyrion stay."
Tyrion nodded and settled back into his chair.
Varys looked at them for only a moment before leaving.
The door closed behind him.
Tyrion poured himself another cup of wine.
"You have a suspicion."
"I do."
Artos waited until the footsteps outside had faded.
Then he leaned forward.
"Don't you" Artos said.
Deep beneath the Red Keep, another meeting had begun.
The tunnels twisted through earth and old stone, narrow enough in places that a large man had to turn sideways to pass. Water ran down the walls, and the air smelled of dust, damp soil and things left buried too long.
Few men knew those paths.
None knew them as well as the Spider.
Varys carried a small lamp through the darkness. He wore a plain brown robe, his perfume replaced by the smell of mud and cold stone.
A large figure waited where two passages met.
Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos stood wrapped in yellow silk beneath a heavy travelling cloak. Jewels covered his fingers, and sweat shone across his round face despite the cold. The wealthy Pentoshi magister had been Varys's ally since their youth, long before either man had built his present power.
"You kept me waiting," Illyrio said.
"The Hand held a council meeting."
"The Hand." Illyrio spat the title. "Always the Hand."
Varys placed the lamp upon a ledge.
"Artos Stark has become difficult to avoid."
"Then stop avoiding him. Kill him."
The words echoed quietly through the passage.
Varys sighed.
"An old friend of ours recently paid a great price for believing himself cleverer than Artos."
"Our friends" Illyrio said "was a vain little fool."
"Maybe he thought himself of more clever than anyone but he wasn't a fool."
"And now he is gone because he waited too long."
"No. He is gone because he moved too quickly, mistook confusion for control and believed nobody could see his hand."
Illyrio stepped closer.
"You do not know Artos as I do. You saw him after he became powerful. I knew him while he was building that power in Essos. I watched him gather sellswords, merchants and frightened lords around himself. Every time men thought they had trapped him, he left with more than he had before."
"I am aware."
"No, my old friend. You are worried. That is not the same as understanding."
Varys's smile disappeared.
"I understand enough not to strike at a wolf while my hand is inside its mouth."
"Then use another hand."
"That is precisely what I'm doing."
Illyrio studied him.
"You've found new allies."
"I've begun speaking with people who share our concerns."
"Who?"
"If the Hand's spies find you in these tunnels, it will be better if you cannot answer that question."
Illyrio's face tightened, but he allowed the refusal.
"Our old plan is in ruins," he said. "The New Silver Prince is dead. The girl has been led away from the path we prepared for her."
"Princess Daenerys remains alive."
"Because Ser Waymar saved her. He saved the khal as well, and now both trust him." Illyrio's heavy fingers closed into a fist. "Our attempt has thwarted"
Varys looked genuinely saddened.
For years, pieces had been placed across two continents. A frightened prince. A young princess. A Dothraki khal. Ships, gold, marriages and promises.
Viserys was dead.
Daenerys lived, but no longer moved according to their design.
And Waymar had placed himself between her and those who wished to guide her.
"No plan survives the world exactly as it was imagined," Varys said. "That is the beauty and the cruelty of life."
Illyrio scoffed. "You find beauty in failure?"
"I find necessity in adaptation."
"And how have you adapted?"
Varys looked toward the darkness behind Illyrio.
"The realm contains many frightened people. Old families losing power. Faithful men who believe the gods have been insulted. We have some friends and new coins."
---
Please, please join the Patreon. Its really a genuine request. Please join it.
Thank you for your lovely support.
Please join the patreon and join the pack
www.patreon.com/Cregantheblackwolf
Thank you for your support and I am really grateful