During the journey, Cadmus continued treating the sick, children, men, women, and the elderly; he didn't care if you were a beggar or a farmer, he treated everyone equally. The only inconvenience was that every village had some stupid fanatic who called him countless insults.
Cadmus was not someone who liked to be insulted, so he would turn these people into frogs for a period of time. The expressions of the people when they saw that he had turned another person into a frog were simply funny.
Cadmus's actions caused a little fear in people, but they were soon relieved to know that it was temporary. Although it still left the people afraid, after all, they were just simple, illiterate people, and anything unknown caused fear and admiration.
On the King's Road, after two weeks of travel, Cadmus and Geralt saw a huge castle on the horizon.
Harrenhal is a gigantic castle, enormous in proportion, with thick, black walls that seem to have been carved from stone darkened by fire. Its five huge towers, once the largest in the Seven Kingdoms, rise like deformed columns, melted walls, deep cracks, and stone blocks twisted by dragon-fire heat. Some towers are broken at the top, others tilted, as if about to collapse, but still colossal enough to cast vast shadows over the lake.
Harrenhal's gates are tall and heavy, guarded by walls so thick they look like artificial mountains. Inside, the courtyards are wide and empty, flanked by burned structures: roofless halls, crooked arcades, and staircases that go nowhere. The melted stone runs down the walls as if it had flowed and hardened halfway, creating irregular and scarred shapes.
From afar, the castle looks like a huge black ruin, too immense to be ignored, too large to have survived the fire intact, a monument of broken, scarred, and overwhelming stone. An eternal reminder of the flames of Balerion, the Black Dread.
Even knowing that the castle was large, Cadmus was still shocked to see the gigantic rocky monstrosity before him. He couldn't believe that such a thing was made by humans without any magic or science. It was madness to think that humans did such a thing with only human strength and primitive engineering.
Seeing Cadmus's expression, Geralt was not surprised; he had the same reaction when he saw the gigantic castle. Anyone who saw such a large castle for the first time would be amazed at how incredible humans could be.
Cadmus followed Geralt through the gigantic gates while admiring the inside of the castle. There were tents everywhere, each colored and with a different noble coat of arms. He estimated there were about seven hundred people, all from noble houses.
This was the first tournament of the Targaryen Dynasty after Robert's Rebellion. It was a rare event where all young knights wanted to gain fame and perhaps even marry a princess. Although it was a foolish dream, it was what motivated these young knights full of ambition and naivety.
"Poor fools, they think a tournament is something without danger." Cadmus commented upon seeing the youth and ambition in the eyes of these young knights. Tournaments were dangerous, and even nobles could die in the combat tournament or in the jousting.
If you were lucky enough to find a Knight of the Kingsguard, it could save your life, but if it's a knight who only thinks about winning, then pray to the god you believe in, because the chances of dying by a veteran and experienced knight are high.
"Men kill each other for glory, money, and women; there's nothing new about that." Geralt rode with a calm expression. In his eighty years, he had seen countless men die for these things, but there was something they all had in common.
They all regretted it in death and were buried in the ground after they died.
"At the end of your life, will you regret it, Geralt?" Cadmus looked at the Witcher and asked with a smile.
"I'll die in the mouth of some monster, alone and with only the emptiness of my mind, just as I was born." Geralt replied in a calm tone. "There is no regret for a witcher, only the lament of such a lonely life."
Cadmus looked deeply at the witcher and couldn't help but think that this was truly sad. This man risked his life to kill monsters and save people his whole life, but there would be no one by his side in the end. It was sad and personified well the phrase that heroes are forgotten.
"You won't die alone, Geralt." Cadmus said with a smile. "Even in your death, I'll still be there to provoke you one last time."
Geralt twisted his lips and felt he should draw his steel sword and kill Cadmus. The boy really knew how to annoy him. Didn't he even deserve a peaceful death?
Ignoring the boy, Geralt dismounted from the horse and held the reins. He approached a young man who smelled of horse manure and spoke in a cold tone. "If she loses a single hair, I will make you suffer."
Faced with the cold, golden feline eyes, the young man felt his legs weaken. He swallowed hard and nodded quickly. "D-don't worry, sir, I'll take good care of her." Stammering, he said with a determined tone to protect the horse with his life.
Geralt showed a satisfied look and walked away, but saw Cadmus hand a Gold Dragon to the young man before following him.
"Good cop, bad cop always works." Cadmus said with a laugh and didn't care if Geralt understood his metaphor.
It wasn't the first time Geralt had heard strange words and phrases from Cadmus and he simply ignored him. "I'm going to talk to the Hand of the King, don't cause trouble." The witcher warned in a calm and deep tone.
Seeing Geralt's back moving away, Cadmus rolled his eyes. Although he liked to provoke people, it didn't mean he was a childish fool.
Without Geralt, Cadmus walked through the tents, listening to people's conversations, gossip, and curiosities. Rhaegar Targaryen's Court came down to one thing: a delicate political balance that made him admire the Targaryen King.
This was not the Targaryen Dynasty at its peak; the Targaryens had lost their dragons and consequently, their absolute dominance over the vassals. Robert's Rebellion was not the first; House Baratheon had already rebelled before, as had other houses, although nowhere near as impactful.
Westeros needed a King like Rhaegar, an experienced politician and warrior with prestige among the noble houses, which Rhaegar was. If it were a king like Baelor, Tywin would have rebelled once more.
That's why Cadmus thought that Aegon, who was gay, would make the situation even more chaotic. Even if Aegon had Dorne's support, Dorne was too weak compared to the other kingdoms.
A king should be respected and feared, and believe me, sleeping with other men did not make a king respected or feared. What man would respect a king who liked to sleep with other men?
Cadmus was not prejudiced, but even on Earth, gay people still suffer from the stigma that they were not real men, much less in this backward world. So, in his eyes, Rhaegar, to prevent the war from breaking out again, should choose other people as heir or heiress.
Princess Rhaenys was more suitable than Aegon; at least by marrying the right man, the princess could keep the throne.
As Cadmus walked, he had arrived by the God's Eye, the largest lake in Westeros. The lake was magnificent with its blue and green color, and from afar, the mage could see the mysterious Isle of Faces, which was said to house the Children of the Forest.
Black swans could be seen on the shore, their magnificent black feathers looked especially lustrous because of the water on them.
Cadmus approached the lake and was surprised to find two figures, one short and one tall. Looking closer, they were a small girl and a man. The man seemed to be the young woman's protector, as he looked like a bodyguard.
Cadmus intentionally stepped on a branch, which alerted the girl and her knight. He finally saw the girl's appearance. She was not beautiful; her chin was square, her ears large, and unexpectedly, she had beautiful blue eyes.
However, what caught Cadmus's attention was the area of her cheek and neck. Her left cheek and most of her neck were covered by cracked and peeling skin, gray and black, similar to stone.
---------
Read the advanced chapters on my Patreon!
/GOTSW
Read my other books:
Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos (500,000 words written).
Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.
Game Of Thrones: The King's Court Wizard