Chapter 2 house pendragon

184 AC

Three weeks later I arrived at kingslanding late one evening with house Lothston small retinue of horsemen, eager to turn in for the night. I smelled the city before even seeing the city walls, and as I reach the top of one particular hill, I can see towers emerging from the other side. The tall towers stretch out from a large red keep, the size of which can't match the monstrosity that is Harrenhal but makes a good effort anyways. The keep and castle is made of pale red stone and has seven massive drum-towers crowned with iron ramparts, with black and red banners flying in the wind everywhere.

On three sides, this magnificent castle was surrounded by a large city, sprawling across several miles and defended by tall walls. It is dotted with manses, arbors, granaries, brick storehouses, timbered inns, merchant stalls, taverns, graveyards and brothels.

The city looks like an organic ever-changing setting with more people trying to live inside city walls than it could hold. Outside the city walls it was much more dangerous to live and the houses there tend to be ramshackle buildings which extend to the walls. These include bait shacks, pot shops, warehouses, merchant's stalls, alehouses, and of course more prostitutions rooms.

Despite my best efforts to endure the smell of the city until we made it to the castle, I couldn't tolerate it and had put a handkerchief over my face, while closing the wooden windows of the carriage. Much to my great disappointment it didn't help much. So for the remainder of the ride, I lament the fact that I'm currently to poor to afford perfume and couldn't steal any from my grandmother before I left.

As we approach the Red keep the captain of the horsemen accompanying me stopped by the gate to talk with the guards there identifying who they were and what their purpose for being at the castle was. After a few minutes he ordered the carriage forwards through the gates.

The harsh Westerosi sun beats down upon me as I step off the carriage of my mother's family's and onto the manicured courtyard of the Red keep. The smell of horse manure and raw iron assaults my nostrils as a group of squire's thunder past on horses, herded by a stout, red-faced knight.

Under one shoulder, I carry a leather bag which holds the key to the rest of my life in this city, if this works I might have a good start to this shitshow. A portrait drawn by yours truly, of a much younger and slimmer King Aegon IV Targaryen, the King himself is a self centered piece of shit who is know for favoring people who pleases him. I was a bit of a painter in my past life so hopefully this impresses him enough for me to get to stay in Kingslanding.

With one hand held over my temple to shield my eyes from the sun's glare, I quickly find what I was looking for after speaking with a guard and getting direction to a castle steward. After introducing myself and telling him what my intention were he lead me to Maegor's Holdfast.

I step through the heavy iron-banded doors into the blissfully cool interior of the Maegor's Holdfast only to be nearly bowled over by the rush of maesters and their aides scrambling to and fro like enraged hornets taking care of the king as he lay on the bed.

As I walked through the doors behind the steward, I could hear the steward whisper into the ear of the guard by the door on the bedroom side. As soon as the whispering was done, the guard raised his halberd and smashed the pole of it against the floor to gain the attention of the room, then with a loud, booming voice the guard announced you;

"Arthur Waters, baseborn son of king Aegon IV Targaryen and lady Jeyne Lothston,"

I saw no reaction to my name except for the split second of recognition on some faces. I had not expected the king bed chambers to have so many people in it, but it looks like he's holding court from his chambers since he can't really move anymore. On the other side of the room from the bed itself I had just been announced to all the lords so far in attendance of whatever this was.

[Crowd murmuring]

"Do you see this" someone in the crowded said

"Ridiculous"

"It like the seventh bastard child so far"

"Can't even keep track of them all"

I ignored them all and kept walking to the front of the bed With my head held high. Then as I got to roughly twenty meters away from the steps that led up to the bed, I stopped and went on one knee, bowing as I went, These were basic lessons in courtesy that I had learned while living in Harrenhal.

"Your Majesty, I, Arthur Waters, have honoured your call to court and reaffirm my everlasting loyalty to you, king Aegon Targaryen, the Fourth of His Name, rightful Liege and Protector of all of Westeros."

I kept my eyes to the floor, bowing deep enough while on one knee that my chest was firmly against the bent knee. I press tight with my arm so the portrait against my armpit does not slip and fall. In every sense of the word, I was a statue knelt before the king.

"So your Jeyne son"

"Yes, your highness. I am." I said Still kneeling with my head bowed, averting my eyes.

The booming voice turned to laughter, the large men smashing his fat hand on the bed and shaking it a bit. He was obviously amused by my introduction.

"Come now, lad. I wished to see you up close,"said the fat king.

After more then an hour of ass kissing I was finally able to get out of the kings chambers more or less successful in my plans. The king was more then happy with my gift to him and after telling him it was I who paint it, he ordered me to paint another in front of the court. After that spectacle he praised me for my talents and took me on as a page of his court.

Although many a sideways glance were directed at me during the evening feast and the following morning, I paid them little mind. A young noble, even being a bastard such as I am, was still the kind of status smallfolks and minor nobles would not wish to offend. Especially after it became common knowledge that I was the page of their king.

191 AC

Days passed, then months, then years. I stayed silent most of the time just absorbing the court and the different players within. Most tend to ignore a five year old boy who don't say much, and I used that to my full advantage to hear and see things that I shouldn't have.

A few months after my arrival, the king is dead, long live king Daeron II Targaryen long may he reign.

Splash, splash, clank, clank "ahh this is the life" I said while swimming in a vault full of gold coin. I picked one up with a spark in my eye "My precious"

Then suddenly 'Bang' the vaults door slammed open and I see my kingly brother trying to make away my gold with an evil face laughing maniacally haha haha haha. "It for the good of the realm brother hahahahaha"

"Nooooooooo"

I awaken with a startle from that nightmare and immediately check the chest near my bed and saw my gold was still there. I breathed a sigh of relief, with the lingering memory of the dream fading in the morning light. I'm in a beautiful room with an enormous four-pillar canopy bed, expensive mahogany dressers, and priceless tapestries. My last seven years of life have been filled with the finest things money could buy. As a burgeoning merchant prince, I expect nothing less. I throw back the thick, luxurious covers and get out of bed. I see that my clothes have already been laid out for me on the dresser.

The clothes are of the highest quality of course to keep up appearances, their cost in gold could probably feed a poor family for a moon. I dress quickly, eager to begin the day. Next to my clothing is one of my most prized possession, a masterfully crafted sword from the best smith money could buy in the street of steel.

The sword is sharp, functional, and lethal. This is no dandy's blade, but a real weapon. My half brother were all jealous when I started wearing it, thinking it make me look like a fop, due to the crossguard Being made of gold with a blue sapphire stone in its center.

But I'm proud of it, it was good for people to not only know I'm rich but also show that I'm a manly men who can use a sword like the best of them. It all about the appearance of power. I strap the blade around my waist as I step out of my bedroom.

The halls are already bustling with servants as they carry things from one end of the castle to the other. I make my way through the corridors instead of taking a private route, eager to meet up with my merchant friend and see how business is doing, before my full day of lessons and tutoring with the measter begins. The servants have places to be, and the sheer number of them clogs the passages.

I smile at the servants, causing them to step aside and smile back and bow in greetings to me as I pass. I'm a very charming individual if I do say so myself.

It doesn't take me long to work my way through the castle, noticing as I do that it seems even busier than normal. Perhaps something interesting is happening that I haven't heard about yet? No matter. My friend is waiting for me, so I hurry on your way.

Peter has been working for me for seven years now, and has been a very loyal men and no it not because I hold his son varys hostage for good behavior, that ridiculous his son is my best friend and dearest companion I could not bear to part with him and whoever say anything different is a charlatan.

Anyways I meet Peter after a few months of me being a page to my father, I pulled an alicent Hightower and was their to comfort him in his dying days. He would hold court and hear petition in his room since he didn't trust his son to do as good of a job as he does, his words not mine.

One afternoon after every one have left the kings chambers and he was sleeping I decided to go through a few of those loan requests from some merchants, it not my fault that people leave important parchments lying around where my grubby hand could reach.

Peter is about thirty years old and was born in kingslanding too. His uncle, Fred, has been working as a merchant his whole life and manage to get a fleet of ten ships to his name, and when he past away, Peter inherited does ships. To prove himself an adequate heir to his uncle fortunes he decide to gamble everything on a trip to Volantis for spices he can sell in kingslanding. So he braved through the Stepstones fighting off pirates and the sea it's self, making it back to port with 5 ships full of diffrent spices, if his planed worked out he would be a very rich man, but unfortunately he decided to leave all his products in one very flammable storehouse and his rivals burned it down leaving him penniless and in debt.

After my kingly father passed away he left me with a sizeable fortune which I used to convince peter to work for me and be my front man, since no one would've took me serious at my age, that's also why I have his son to keep him motivated and in line.

I hurry through the open portcullis and out the front gate of the castle, knowing that he'll be at our usual meeting spot. Sure enough, I find him sitting next to the moat waiting for me. Peter has dirty blond hair that lays in a tumbled heap on his head. He's really skinny, but his sharp blue eyes cause many people to say that he's a real charmer.

"You slept in," Peter says with a frown.

"That the benefits afforded to me as a rich man peter, now how are you doing, not stressing too much I hope " I said with a nonchalant smile on my face.

"Well with all due respect Milord I wouldn't be under so much stress, if I didn't have to deal with every harebrain ideas you have running in that thick skull of yours" he muttered back

"I'm sorry what was that" I pretended not to hear him

"Nothing milord"

"Good now walk with me and tell me how is business"

"We were able to purchase two additional trading cogs in good order, bringing your fleet up to thirty ships, but other then that we are barely making ends meet"

"Why is that Peter I though we had got that new contract from House Whitehead of the Weeping Town, asking us to transport more of their goods north, are we not finding any buyers" I asked confused.

"That not the case milord the transport business is going really well it just that your project with the Lyseni exslave children is putting a burden on our finances, since we have to feed and cloth then and you also hired different type of tutors for them as well which don't come cheap."

Ahh this was something that I started 2 years ago when I decided I would need loyal men when I branch out on my own. And what more loyal then someone who was freed from slavery, given shelter and a new family.

But I may have went a bit overboard I now have more then five hundred mouth to feed and that is starting to hurt my pockets.

While I was deep in thought trying to figure out what I should do next

I heard a booming voice suddenly from almost next to me. I had been walking through the city after fetching an extra skin of wine from a local tavern, so I could keep hydrated in this heat. I turned, the fright bringing my hand to the hilt of my sword and ready to present it to the assailant, but as the light glinted off the blackened helm of a knight fully dressed in the black and red of house targaryen household knights.

The booming voice turned to laughter, the large knight smashing his armoured hand on my shoulder and shaking me a bit. He was obviously amused by my reaction.

"Come now, lad. I only wished to deliver this message to you from the king he wishes to see you in the castle sept to discuss a matter," the knight said

"Did the king inform you of what this matter was" I asked since Daeron pretty much ignores my presence.

The knight shakes his head and left without another word. I said my goodbyes to Peter and went back to the castle to see what my brother needs.

I rush as soon as possible to the sept, at least making sure I looked respectable before I got there since it is a holy place to these people.

As I pushed the surprisingly light door open and entered the sept, I could see that a good portion of the king's entourage was there, along with Queen Myriah Martell and her ladies-in-waiting. They all turned to see me as I entered, causing a slight bit of panic to float up my innards, mainly due to confusion. The king stood by the priest at the altar and signed me to approach as well. One of ladies in waiting caught my eye, a silver-gold hair girl roughly my own age and in my mind one of the prettiest of the ladies-in-waiting. Her name was Shiera Seastar my half sister.

Clearing my throat, I closed the door and took wary steps down the aisle and all the way to the steps of the altar. I glanced up at the Holy Sigils, the symbols of the seven. It was a seven pointed carved star made of wood. Each end of the points, was rounded with large circles that represented the aspects of each God.

"Kneel before the altar."The priest said, motioning towards the small pillow set on the lowest step in front of me. I settled my knees against the rather plush pillow and looked up at the priest and the king. In the flickering candle light I could see the king draw a ceremonial sword set on the altar and placed it over a heavy bronze brazier in which a well-kept fire burned in honour of seven.

The priest, dressed in ceremonial white robes with a long black silk scarf, embroidered in yellow with the Holy Sigil, hanging from his neck and down his chest. On his head he wore a bland small skullcap made of cotton and coloured as black with a white rim. He guided the sword over the brazier so the flames could lick the sharpened iron edges of the blade. The priest began chanting, the prayers of their faith sounding much more like singing than anything else and despite my basic lessons in history of this world I had a hard time understanding what was going on. On certain phrases the crowd would join the priest in the chant.

The priest sprayed water with his fingers onto the now hot blade, causing steam to billow off it as the king pulled it away from the brazier. Once the water sprayed stopped turning into steam on touch, the king stepped to me and pointed the sharp end to my face.

Ay what the fuck is going on here!! I screamed in my head. But kept a straight face on.

"Arthur Pendragon, are you willing to become a squire in my service, seeking to serve all, but most especially those younger than you, exemplifying all the virtues of Our Faith?" The king spoke. Then it hit me that I had been learning this ceremony for years. Words spoken differed from the actual knighting ceremony, but the responses to these questions were the same style

The priest brought a cup down to me, holding almost in reach of my lips but far enough that I would not yet drink the contents.

"The mother stated that even giving a cup of cold water to the least among us is giving to Her. May you always do good to others and most especially to those most in need." The king continued.

The priest tilted the cup, the cold rim of the bronze cup touching my lips so I could take a sip from the water in it. Then he backed away with the cup, king Daeron moving to pull back the sword so he could hold the blade on top of his hands in offering to me.

"As a reminder that you are to live this oath all the days of your life, receive this, the blade of the sacrament, and treat it with honour and due diligence in this life and the next. It will serve as a reminder of the virtues of the seven who are one and will forever be clean of thy sins. These virtues are to be your protection against all evil and safeguard your way to our gods. May you live them well."

"For my liege and for the seven, I shall carry it." I said as I grasp the hilt of the sword and lift it from the hand of the king, bringing it vertical in front of me with the tip of the blade firmly against the stone step, the slightly tilted crossguard forming the Holy Sigil in front of my face as I say a quiet prayer and finally stand up. The weight of the blade is not much, I suspect that since it is very much ceremonial it's made of tin and silver. The crossguard is finely carved and detailed wood and the pommel gilded iron to give some heft to it. The king begins clapping as I stand up and the rest of the sept slowly breaks out into applause, including the priest who now stands by the altar.

I turn to see the squires who you are now equal to clapping the most ferociously at me having finished my time as a page and begin my real training as a squire so one day I might be knighted in a similar but much bigger ceremony.

Well shit I just became the squire to Dareon fucking Targaryen I'm so fucked.

The crowd cheers so loudly that I think about covering my ears. The crowd disperses, leaving me alone in the sept until my friend varys runs up to me and I asks him if he heard.

He nods but after seeing my downtrodden face, he says, "I haven't had a good meal in a long time; let's quickly head to one of the smaller taverns before it gets too crowded…perhaps the Black Swan." Before I can respond, varys grabs me and pulls me toward the exit making me leave my swords in the sept.

I ended up in the Black Swan fifteen minutes later. It's already three-quarters full, but we manage to find a seat in the back. Varys orders a round of beer for four; the barmaid looks at him, puzzled, saying, "But there are only two of you."

Varys smiles and responds, "Three are for me. Come on now, and bring us some bread with cheese, a full roasted chicken, and oh, some of that wonderful beef broth you're so well known for." The barmaid leaves, probably wondering when the last time someone ordered an entire roasted chicken was. More men start gathering in the tavern, rushing to the bar and ordering as many drinks as they can. Varys looks over at me and says, with a somewhat worried expression, "You know that your paying this bill, right?"

I respond, "I would think so, or have you come upon a great deal of gold from the last time we met." Varys sighs in relief.

After some time, the food finally arrives. Varys looks a bit disappointed when he doesn't see an entire roasted chicken; instead, it's a few hunks of chicken in a bowl. "What is this?" he asks.

"Sorry. The owner says everyone can eat as much as they'd like, but they'll be limiting the portions; otherwise, they'll sell out within an hour," replies the girl. "Besides, you couldn't have eaten an entire roasted chicken by yourself."

"I would have liked to have tried!" responds Varys. She puts the drinks and food down, then leaves. I watched the barmaid leave my eyes focus on her round derriere.

Oh cheer up Arthur the king just made you his squire for sevens sake, you should be celebrateing your rise in the world but instead you sit here sulking in your mug,"Varys said.

"I'm not sulking" I growled already a bit drunk.

"The king is a generous man maybe if you impress him enough, he may give you lands of your own to rule, like he did for that blackfyre git."

I chuckled a bit remembering when daemon beat both me and varys without any effort.

"That's the thing varys there is a war coming and I don't want to end up at the pointy end of a sword."

"Bah the realm is at peace my friend, even the raiding Dornishman's have join the seven kingdoms, who would we even war with the dead from beyond the wall. Varys said as he starts to laugh at his own joke, not know how true that would be in a hundred years.

When I look back at the table, I see that Varys has eaten most of his food. For as long as I've known him, he could eat three times as much as a normal man but still maintain his lanky figure. I decide to eat and drink as well, and finish just after Varys has convinced the barmaid to bring him a third portion of chicken. After some time has passed, Varys gets up and asks if I'll like to play darts, which is his favorite bar game. I think for few seconds; Varys always wins at darts, but I decided to make it more challenging…

"How about we play a drinking game first" I said with a smug smile.

Varys groans. "That isn't fair, I've already had three drinks!"

"Sounds fair to me."

"Your view on fair means daylight robbery my friend."

"Does that mean you forfeit?"

Varys shakes his head. "Heck, no. Now let's get this game started."

The barmaid begins setting up the game. Varys frowns. "What are the rules again?"

I spend a few minutes telling him the rules; he always seems to forget them, perhaps because he's always drunk whenever I explain it to him, back in my old world I would've been arrested for underage drinking I should really cut back a bit.

The Black Swan gives us ten drinks: three are watered-down beer, three are normal beer, three are wine, and one is a concoction of something that tastes horrible and has more alcohol in it than anything else. They also give my opponent ten drinks in the exact same order as mines. It's a game of luck, fortitude, and perhaps a bit of acting too. People often make bets during the drinking game, but Varys rarely have any money to bet with since he spends all the money I give him so I mostly play for fun.

The game has ended in a draw, but whenever someone gets the concoction of nearly pure alcohol, they almost always lose. The bartender is the one that mixes up the flasks, and the only rule is that the same kind of drink can never be next to each other. This results in a strategy in guessing drinks, since your opponent has to tell you what it is he or she drank, even though lying is encouraged.

After the drinking game in which I won we moved on to playing darts.

Who knows, maybe I'll win this time…Varys is quite drunk, after all; though that usually doesn't seem to make his skill at darts any less exceptional. I walk over to the corner of the tavern to a heavily used dartboard, one so old that many of the numbers are unreadable. We have our own rules. If you hit the board, even if it's outside the circle, it's one point. Hitting inside the outer circle is worth two points, the inner circle is four points, and the bullseye is eight points. Varys smiles and takes the darts in his hand. "Best of three?"

You nod, and he throws his first dart…

[A few moments later spongebob narrator]

Varys grins. "Looks like there's no way you can win, Arthur."

"Double the points for the next shot?" I said

Varys turns to face you. "And why would I agree to that?"

"I'll give you a gold dragon if I lose."

Varys rubs his chin for a few seconds, pretending to think it over. "Make it two and you have a deal."

I nod and throw the dart

I lost.

I dig around in my pockets until I find two gold dragon. Varys takes it greedily. "Thanks. I can buy my own dart set with this."

After my lost I decide to head back to the castle. Varys decides to stay and waves goodbye to me; apparently, someone challenged him to a game of darts.

On the walk back, I notice several drunks singing in the streets. A few are passed out. Suddenly, I hear some shouting and see a small band of kids beating and robbing a drunk man.

I decided to walk by and say nothing. I'm not a fucking hero, they get killed first in this world.

I walk by, trying not to draw any attention…it doesn't work.

"Hey, you! Yeah, I'm talking to you, kid!"

Oh come on man I don't want no problems. I thought in my head, touching my waist looking for my sword, only to remember I left it in the sept.

One of the kids (who must be the leader of the gang) walks up to me. "I'm short a few coins…do you have any Gold you could spare?"

"No." I said trying to sound menacing

"No Gold, huh? That's too bad. That is a nice pair of shoes you have there. I think they might fit me, mind if you take them off for a moment so I can compare?"

"They don't make these boots in female sizes."

"What…I'm not…" He looks very confused.

I call out harshly, "Sorry, you sound like a little girl. I guess I mistook you for one." His friends laugh, but he gives them a dirty look that quickly shuts them up

I continue to berate him, making fun of anything I can think of. Eventually, he tells his friends to quit laughing, and I make a joke about him having a whore of a mother. This leads to one of his friends laughing too loud and him punching his friend in the face. Soon there's a brawl between the thugs. I take this time to help the old drunk to his feet, get him on his way, and leave before they notice me again.

The drunk man's breath smells horrible, but he thanks me and after taking a look at my silver hair he asked if I was one those sliver hair kids who lives in the compound near the dragonpit. I lied and noded.

I slowly went through the open gate of the castle. It's rather dark with only touches and candles as the only light source. I carefully walk up to my chambers making sure I don't slip on all these damn stairs.

When I reach the door, I hear a soft voice say, "And where exactly have you been?" I turn…and it's my half sister Shiera Seastar, and she's quite angry. Apparently, she's been waiting for me. Shiera is currently thirteenth years old having been born in 178 Ac. We have a great bond since both our mothers died giving birth to us and she is quite fond of the fairytale stories of my past life, we also bond over our love of history and language.

I hate to say this because you know she is fucking thirteenth but damn was she beautiful, with a heart-shaped face, and thick and curly Targaryen silver-gold hair that she wore long, she has two rather striking mismatched eyes one dark blue, the other bright green, which give her a colder demeanour when she angry. Yet her smile as she giggles at me after she noticed me staring at her, seems to melt it all away.

"You didn't answer my question brother"

"Reading…I…must have lost track of time." I quickly made something up since she can be quite vindictive, when I miss an appointment with her.

She looks at me like I just told her I was swimming in the ocean. "Quit lying! Now where were you?"

I sigh. "I was at the tavern with vary getting a drink."

"Why am I not surprised…do you even remember that you promised me, you would finish telling the tale of troy?" she asks in an almost worried tone.

"Yes, of course I remember," I lied with a straight face.

Shiera sighs knowing good and well that I was lying. "Good…now come along I was getting a little worried after you didn't show up I thought bittersteel was beating you up again." she said with a slight smirk as she walk into my room.

"Again I sliped I never lost, it's not uncommon for knights to lose their balance on muddy ground." I said with an annoyed voice.

Shiera frowns. "Perhaps, you want me to let him know of what you said so you can have a proper rematch and you can fight on solid ground this time around." she said with amusement in her voice.

I shrug. "It would be him who loses honor for fighting a squire as a knight, but if you want to see me fight so bad I can actually go look for him now?"

Her anger returns. "No, I want you to finish the story like you're were supposed to do!"

I laughed as we quickly go into my room and close the door. Not noticing a cats eye on us.