From Westeros to Essos : The Crusader King

Chapter 25 – Sands of Time

Even now, four years after his sister had escaped death and brought her daughter, his niece, to Dorne, alive, Oberyn couldn't help himself from thinking about killing the Mountain and Tywin Lannister. His nephew is baby nephew, murdered in cold blood by that… that bastard, and yet the man who calls himself the king of the seven kingdoms, knighted the fucker for killing a baby!

If not for Ellaria's and Ellia's pleads, he would have marched to the Westerlands and killed the mountain with his own hands, but alas, as his dear lover and his sister told him, there will be a time in the future when Aegon would be avenged.

Letting out a tired sigh, Oberyn turned his head and watched as his beloved paramour was looking at him. He smiled at her, admiring his beloved. She smiled back, reaching out to caress his face making him lean in to kiss her, feeling her warm lips on his, as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself closer to him. At that moment, Oberyn wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day with the woman he loved, forgetting about the world and its troubles.

But fate had other plans. A knock on the door interrupted their moment of bliss and Oberyn groaned, annoyed by whoever decided that he had enough of his paramour.

Ellaria sighed, knowing it was probably something important, after all, other than her goodsister or goodniece, no one would disturb them like this. After a few more seconds, they reluctantly broke their embrace and got up from the bed.

"Who is it?" Oberyn called out.

"It's Ser Arys Sand, my prince," a voice answered from outside. "Prince Doran requests your presence in his office. He says it's urgent."

Oberyn frowned, wondering what his brother wanted. He hoped it was not another lecture about his reckless behavior or his plans for revenge. He had heard enough of those from both him and his sister.

Still, that didn't' mean he liked meeting Prince Doren and not his brother Doren the first thing in the morning, so he looked at Ellaria, who shrugged. She was curious as well, but she also knew better than to question Doran's authority. He was the Prince of Dorne, after all, and Oberyn's elder brother.

"Tell him we'll be there shortly, Arys."

"Yes, my prince."

When he and Ellaria walked into the office, the first thing, Oberyn saw was his lovely sister sitting on a chair and glaring at their older brother, who like always, looked like a stone. Ha, that would make Stark proud.

As soon as he and Ellaria sit down, Oberyn decides to ask his brother why they had been summoned here.

"Don't get me wrong, brother, I'm not against spending time with you and our sister, but for what reason had you decided to gather our family this fine morning?"

Doran closed his eyes for a second before looking at Oberyn and Elia with a serious expression as he pushed forward a letter from one of his contacts in the free cities.

"This letter is from one of my spies in Volantis, who, for the past moons, has been keeping an eye on the activities of a new company, one that I dare say has started to gain Braavos' support. While they don't have a name, the fighters that are not knights call themselves the warriors of the cross and they are led by two men, one who was presumed dead and another who disappeared: Tyrek Lannister and Andar Royce."

Even though he was shocked, Oberyn kept his calm. Elia on the other hand, gasped, shocked by this revelation. Tyrek Lannister was the son of Tygett Lannister, Tywin's younger brother, who had disappeared before the War of the Usurper started and many thought he died on the battlefield. Andar Royce was the son of Yohn Royce, the Lord of Runestone and a powerful bannerman of House Arryn. He had vanished along with his nephew, Konrad Arryn, the heir of Jon Arryn, almost five years ago, after a failed assassination attempt had been discovered.

"What are they doing in Essos?" Oberyn asked, wanting to know more about what his sister's friend was doing in Essos out of all the places.

"Waging a war against slavery, brother," Doran said. "Over the past four moons, more than five hundred men and women joined them, and while only forty of them are knights, the rest of the warriors… all wore white robes underneath the armor. My spy… managed to find out that these people in white were following some God-named God. At first, he thought it was R'hllor, but no. More than once the fire worshipers fought against those brothers of the cross and almost every time they lost badly. But that's not what I'm worried about. The one who commands these people is none other than seven namedays old son of the current hand of the king, no matter how mad it sounds, this is a worrying game."

"Why are you telling us this, Doran?" Elia asked. "What does this have to do with us? Forgive me for telling you this, but we are in Westeros and no matter how I look at this, a seven namedays old boy …"

The moment his sister stopped, Doren nodded his head slowly. "I see you have realized why I'm worried, sister."

Oberyn cursed their luck, if what Doran told them was true, and the boy was building an army in Essos, then all of their plans for revenge would be all for naught. The Roses will never support them and Dorne won't be able to fight the Lannisters alone. Then, why would Doran gather them here, unless…

"My prince." Oberyn's response, shocked everyone, even his older brother.

"So formal, brother?"

"Aye, my prince. The reason for this meeting was entirely about the letter, am I right?"

"You are brother," Doran answered after a few seconds. "I know you are eager for revenge, Oberyn, but this is not a simple matter. This boy is not only the son of the Hand of the King, but he's the only heir to the Vale. If we kill him, we will not only anger Jon Arryn, but also the Baratheons, the North, and possibly even the Lannisters. You will start a war that we are not ready for, and that we may not win."

"Then what do you propose we do, Doran?" Oberyn asked impatiently. "You know better than anyone that I will not become a child slayer."

"No, Oberyn, I do not suggest that. I suggest that we use this opportunity to our advantage. His father might not be a friend of ours, but the boy may become an ally in the future. He is young and impressionable, and he has shown a remarkable sense of justice and compassion by fighting against slavery. He may not share our hatred for the Lannisters, but he may share our love for freedom and peace. If we can reach out to him, and show him the truth about his family's crimes, we may be able to sway him to our side. Or at least, make him doubt his loyalty to them. From what everyone knows, Jon Arryn hadn't exactly been the best father for him, despite the boy's illness."

"Illness?" Ellaria asked, for the first since she walked into the room.

"The boy is pale, has red eyes and white hair, and if what that Lannister spy of a maester says is true, then the boy might not live to see his twentieth nameday."

"And how do you plan to do that, Doran?" Elia asked curiously. "Do you have a contact in Volantis who can arrange a meeting with him? Or do you intend to send a raven with a letter?"

"Neither, sister. I intend to send Oberyn." Doran said firmly, surprising his sister.

"Me?" Oberyn exclaimed in surprise, but both his sister and his paramour recognized the excitement in his voice. "Why me?"

"Because you are the best person for this mission, Oberyn. You are a skilled fighter and a charming diplomat. You have traveled across Essos and know its cultures and languages. You have contacts and allies in many cities and ports. You have a reputation as a prince of Dorne and a lover of life. You can appeal to this boy's sense of adventure and curiosity. You can be his friend and mentor. And if all else fails..."

"I'll come back if all else fails, my prince…"

Oberyn was silent after saying that, considering his brother's words. Doran was not wrong and no one would doubt his intentions for going to Essos, especially those from the capital.

"Very well, my prince. I will go to Essos and find this boy."

After saying, that, Oberyn got up and walked out of the room, leaving his siblings looking at his back as he and Ellaria closed the door behind them.

As soon as they were outside of the office, Ellaria hugged Oberyn, letting him calm down. She knew that hearing his brother not being against killing a child was not easy for his heart. Oberyn had always loved children, and his brother's words were anything but something neither he nor his sister Elia would approve of.

"It's alright, my love. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. You can go to Essos and see for yourself what this boy is like. Maybe he is not as bad as Doran thinks. After all, as we already know he hadn't been raised by the old falcon."

Oberyn smiled and hugged her back appreciating her support. Not to mention that only a fool would not see that she was right. He had to see this boy with his own eyes and judge him by his actions, after all a child shouldn't be judged by the sins of his father.

"Thank you, my love," Oberyn said softly as he kissed his paramour. "You always know how to make me feel better. "

Ellaria rolled her eyes at him as she let herself fall prey to her lover's sweet words. She loved Oberyn with all her heart, and nothing could change that.

"Come on, let's go pack our bags. We have a long journey ahead of us,

Four moons of fighting had turned his company into a force that could fight against multiple pirate crews at the same time, and yet something still worried him. Openly praying to God was his bold decision, and for some reason unknown to him, more and more of the freed slaves had started to take Christianity as their religion, abandoning whatever religion they had been following before.

Was it the miracle of healing that seemed to happen every night when everyone was praying? Or was it the newly built church near the outpost in Valyria where they settled? Konrad didn't know but one thing was for sure, with each week, both men and women worked harder and harder to bring to life the teachings of the bible and those of the Orders of Brothers of Saint Mary and their healing arts that surpass even the maester of the citadel.

What started as a way of teaching men and women who were not good at fighting how to treat the wounded, slowly turned into a devoted, almost fanatical gathering of people swearing to protect him with their lives. And while a part of him was happy for the order to appear in this world too, Konrad felt that it was his responsibility to bring them to the right path. So, after consulting with his most trusted people, he decided to allow five of the ex-sellswords knights who pledged their lives to the faith to follow him and help train the first-ever knights of the Teutonic Order.

When he started this, Konrad didn't have any expectations, but time and time again, the lads, his knights picked amongst the young men and boys had proved him wrong. In little over four moons, the order grew from five knights to five knights and thirty initiates. While it was far from being a proper order, it was a start, one that was already making a name for themselves leading the small folk in battle against the slavers.

And now, as he continued writing the bible, Konrad heard footsteps walking towards him. Turning his head, he saw Bronn looking somewhat grim, which from what Konrad noticed was rarer than a dragon.

"Did something happen?"

Bronn nodded and took a seat next to Konrad before looking at the book with the words of the bible.

"Your work is admirable, young lord, but I'm afraid I have some bad news. Nyssa has spotted another slave ship on the horizon, but this one is different. It sails under the flag of a lord of the Vale, the mockingbird of House Baelish."

For the first time in moons, he heard the name of a man he swore to kill once returning home, and yet never would have he imagined that Baelish would fall so low and openly send a ship towards the slaver's bay.

"Is she sure about this?"

"Aye. Andar and even Tyrek had confirmed the flag."

Hearing that, Konrad closed his eyes, and Bronn could swear that instead of a soon-to-be eight namedays old boy, stood a veteran of many wars.

"We are marching out, Bronn. Please inform my brothers. this would be the first day, Westeros would see what happens when they piss off the pale young lord."

< Just change "3" with "e" Patr3on Link : https://patr3on.com/meatbunkun>