Chapter 40: Where are your men?
The walk seemed long so Olivia made small talk. "Where are your men old Lion? Are you cooking up something good?" She smiled when his well hidden anger flares.
"What if I told you I know where they are?" Her smile widened when he almost tripped after hearing her.
"Is it possible that you keep quiet about it?" He gritted out.
"I can be convinced." She looked towards the Queen whose eyes are full of hatred and anger.
"You want to kill my daughter?"
"What! Of course not. What do you take me for? I want you to give her a hard slap across the face for raising such a colossal disappointment for a first born. I want to see some teeth flying and busted lips."
"You are crazy." Tywin said as if he is talking to a child.
"I hope so. Well?" She gestured to Cersei impatiently.
Tywin seems very uncomfortable with this. Not only because of the action itself but the implications of it all. Cersei is also aware of how bad this will make them all look.
However, her father doesn't seem to have a choice here all because he was not stealthy enough with his actions. This filthy peasant knows something her father can not afford to have spread to his enemies so he will have to comply.
"Today please!" Everyone has stopped moving now and are all waiting to see if Tywin will do it or he will risk having his plans exposed.
Tywin walks towards his daughter and the cloth on her mouth is removed, a smooth cheek is exposed into the light. All Tywin has to do is deliver that slap. He took a deep breath and looked at his daughter who is surprisingly silent at this moment. Even Olivia is surprised by her silence.
Tywin slapped her. *Smack* On the cheek making her see stars. Olivia and even Sansa laughed at the sound. The scene became chaotic with mummers sounding from all around them. The soldiers that were not killed in the earlier attack also saw this scene. The men didn't kill those who put their weapons down and surrendered.
The journey continues towards the ship. It is a majestic ship with brown obsidian wood reflecting the light. There is a large white flame on the sides as a sigil. Olivia turned to Tywin and made a sad face.
"This is going to hurt you more than it will hurt me." A man smacked the back of Tywin's head and he went down face first on the ground. The rest of the Lannisters made sounds even though their mouths are gagged, fearing they are being killed. The soldiers that had followed them rushed forward even as they are not armed.
Olivia scoffed and left with her people. She needed Tywin Lannister down incase he surprised her with something. Their ship is very fast for its size, they soon disappeared from everyone's view.
Sansa looked at Olivia with hesitation. "Ask." Olivia said not keen on being stared at for so long for no reason.
"Where are Lord Tywin's men?" He asked with curiosity. Olivia just laughed happily at that question.
"I have no idea." This surprised Sansa and it showed on her face.
"You were so convincing." Sansa found herself in awe of her half sister but she will never admit it.
"It is in my character to know such things so of course he will believe that I know it. He will think I am ready to use that information to make life difficult for him." Olivia answered with a smile.
"Shouldn't we find out where they are?" Sansa asked her.
"I have people on that. I may have destroyed Casterly rock but I didn't touch the fleet. So they may be anywhere in the seven kingdoms now." Olivia admitted.
Sansa just gloomily watched the sea indicating the end of the conversation.
"Did you wish to bring your prince consort?" Olivia asked with a teasing tone.
"We were not married yet." She answered calmly. Then her expression looked at Olivia with an accusatory gaze. "Did you really kidnap princess Marcella?" She suffered a lot for that, both the queen and Jeffrey made her life a living hell because they believed Olivia or the North took Marcella.
"To do what with her?" Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Really? You didn't kidnap her and wrote 'A princess for a princess' on the wall of her bedroom?" Sansa asked with eyes teary from anguish.
"I wouldn't take Marcella if I am to kidnap someone it would be Tommen, he is a male, unlike Jeffrey he has a good head on his shoulder. Which means many of the Lannisters including the queen wish he was king instead. Knowing Tywin, Jeffrey will have an accident soon."
"How would you know?" Sansa found herself drawn in.
"Its what I would do. Replace the mad dog for a more docile and tame Tommen. Its a no brainer." Olivia watched the sea as she spoke about replacing a king without any apprehension.
"It is true, I was relieved when they told me I'll be marrying Tommen instead. But it doesn't matter now." Sansa said with an unreadable expression.
"A shame since you have always wanted to marry a prince. Maybe we should look for your next candidate from Dorne. What do you think?" Olivia's previous jolly mood is gone. Her eyes are now back to being cold and piercing.
"Olivia.." Sansa seemed to want to say something but in the end she decided to walk towards the inside of the ship. "Do I have a room to rest in?" She looked at Olivia without weakness or apology in her face. After looking at her for a long time, Olivia turned to a man on the side and nodded. The man took Sansa inside the the ship to a prepared bedroom.
Olivia and her ship sailed for Robb's camp. It took a day and a half with the ship on full speed. Her ship docked and Sansa is sent out with Olivia, they don't say anything to each other along the way, Olivia is in a good mood having completed her task and now she has a vast piece of land to use as she wishes.
She is also glad that Sansa has suffered outside after being a bitch to their father, inside she forgives her little sister even though there is obvious tension between them.
Olivia took a few days to travel and now she is face to face with Caitlyn Tully in her native home. "Ow, isn't this your home dear mother? It doesn't seem like much."
Caitlyn ignores her and rushed to Sansa checking her all over. "You are welcome." Olivia said acting offended by the cold attitude from Caitlyn.
"Like you didn't get enough thanks from Robb. Are you really going to take so much from the North? That is a very fertile piece of land that is important for the people of the North." Caitlyn went on and on.
"Yeah, talking to you is going to convince me." Olivia rolled her eyes and went passed her step mother. She expected a snarky comment from Caitlyn but non came.
Olivia looked at her and found her expression to be unusual. "Can I speak with you in for a while?" Caitlyn asked Olivia she instantly put up her guard.
"No." She didn't even think about it before answering then turned to leave the two people.
"Can you be mature for a moment? This is important." Her eyes are not full of hate like usual, there is even a hint of joy in those crazy eyes. Olivia is taken aback by this and nodded with hesitation.
Caitlyn let go of Sansa and knelt down, her eyes started flooding with tears. Olivia seeing this jumped a good distance from her, not wanting some palace drama and made to look like an evil child making old people kneel. Sansa is just as surprised as Olivia.
"I want to offer my sincere gratitude for saving my sons, you can not even begin to think how painful it was when I heard they had died. Thank you. I also want to apologize for my abuse of you when you were young. It isn't excusable. There is just no excuse for what I have done. Please forgive me." Her tears streaming down her cheeks making Olivia frown. She remained kneeling while Olivia is stunned in place.
Her childhood memories flooded her mind and she couldn't see clear. After a while of deep breadths she gestured for Sansa to lift her up.
"I acknowledge your gratitude and apology. Now get up, you look ugly when you cry." She hid a smile at her own joke as Caitlyn laughed with tears on her face.
"Right." Caitlyn Understands that years of resentment can not be swept away with an apology alone. Standing up, she looked at Olivia with hesitation. "Can we talk about what happened in Renly's tent?"
Olivia grimaced remembering that this woman knows she has magic now. "Fine. But I want witnesses." She entered an empty room with the two of them. Caitlyn called Robb who walked in with muddy armor.
"Mother, can this wait?" He saw Sansa and they had a small touching reunion. His mood better, he asked what his mother required.
"Olivia has magic." Caitlyn said surprising only Sansa, Robb had seen her heal Lord Bolton although they didn't talk about it.
"I saw her fight a black spirit that was sent to kill Renly but I want to ask her to help you win this war. It's taking too long and the men are getting wary of prolonged fighting not to mention the fast approaching winter." Olivia's answer to this statement is a sniff through the air like she is following the smell of something in the air which seems to be leading her towards Caitlyn.
"Thick smell of hypocrisy in the air. Ow there, its coming from you queen regent." Olivia said but no one else spoke. The two looked at each other for a moment.
Sansa wanted to intervene but Robb stopped her. "Let them solve it themselves, it never ends with these two if you get involved it will just escalate things." Robb whispered.
"You are not seriously considering this are you? What do you want me to do exactly?" She asked Caitlyn.
"I don't know, just end the war quickly."
"You are funny. Hehe...brother knows what 'help' entails. I am going to leave now." She walked out obviously annoyed
As soon as she leaves Robb looked at his mother with disapproval. "That was unnecessary."
"We are a family and should help each other." Caitlyn said but when she looked at her children they are both giving her the same expression as Olivia. "You also think I am being a hypocrite?" They didn't say anything and just nodded.
"You suddenly trust her?" Robb asked in amusement.
"I realized if she wanted me dead I'd be dead." Caitlyn said in response.
"Oliver did give me immense help actually, and if you trust her like you say you do then why don't you prove it for me? I am considering separating the two of you forever." Robb gave a mischievous smile.
"You think I am working some sort of angle? I am genuinely sorry for suspecting her motives. It would be easier for her to take the North with fewer Stark boys but she saved them from certain death. I can admit when I am wrong so stop looking at me like that, the both of you." She hit them on the shoulders lightly.
Smiling, Sansa is still skeptical. Robb came in with a small box and opened it. "This is the pill Olivia told me to give to lords Frey as a token of my apology. If you trust her like you say you do, eat it. After all, if there is a problem with it, my neck will on the line. Olivia gave me two, one for testing and one to give to Frey."
The pill looks beautiful as if it is made from glitter. The smell makes people feel comfortable. "She made this?" Sansa widened her eyes, this pill doesn't look like a cheap product. "Can I take it?" Sansa reached for it only for it but her mother took it and ate in in one move stunning the two.
She looked at them and shrugged. "I am proving my trust in her." The two laughed at her knowing they also wanted to eat it after smelling it.
"From now on watch mother and report to me any changes happening to her no matter how small. Alright little sister?" Robb asked Sansa who nodded feeling sweet for being home and surrounded by family again.
Then she remembered something, she turned to Robb with a serious expression. "What did you pay Olivia to go and fetch me from Kings landing?"
"The gifts of the Nights watch." Robb reported and Sansa's eyes showed surprise.
"It was to pay for the fleet of seven thousand ships she gave to the Starks as well, I threw in a condition for her to go and get you back. How did that happen by the way? Did she enter and sneak you out in the dead of the night?" Robb asked with a curious face.
"Did you have to wear commoner clothes and pretend to be a merchant group?" Caitlyn said guessing out loud. Sansa shook her head.
"We walked out the front door, the Lannister family and their men escorted us to the ship." Sansa said with a serious expression. Then she explained how it all happened including the slap that Cersei suffered from her father.
The family reunion is sweet and filled with laughter, Olivia on the other hand thinks she had interfered too much in their affairs to the point they now want to turn her into a tool for war. This is why she is deciding to take a break from Westeros matters and will read about it in her magic book or the news paper depending on which comes first.
Olivia took the ship to the red waste lands where her castle is being constructed. The job is not as fast because of the extreme weather conditions here. Especially since they are also mining the ore inside the castle wall.
On the ship he found out that a group she has sent a while back to find Arya are escorting her back to the Riverland where her brother and mother are. How did she get this information?
A while ago she made a set of magical pens and textbooks when used, whatever they write will appear on one of her designed textbooks. Each pen has a corresponding textbook with the name of the person back at head quarters.
It doesn't matter where the pen writes, it will all appear on Bree's book who will chose which information to send to Olivia. This way, several people are able to send reports to Bree from all over the world.
It is not perfect because Bree can not send them any instructions for fear of being found out. This way of communicating is also being used to type several pages of a news paper. For the time being it is the large paper with many articles inside some are accompanied by black and white photos.
This is how she knew Tywin is sending out his men batch by batch out of Kings landing. Although this part is not in the news paper, it was send to her directly with a magic pen.
The wall has withstood one large and a small attack from Mance Rayder and his army of wildlings. There is an article on the paper about it. A photo of the battle and the aftermath. In the photos, there are more than two large dire wolves, giants and over fifty thousand wildlings.
The last photo is taken above the wall, this will let the world understand the wildings are not a small force that can be ignored. The nights watch seemed less than half of the wildlings in the pictures and this first news paper will be sold all over the seven kingdoms.
Another shocking article on the news paper is a something that shocked all the nobles who bought the news paper. There is a Westeros princess on sale in the auction at Volantis. The reporter was allowed to take photos of the girl while she asked for her family to come and get her. The sellers are happy as long as they get their monies worth.
There are currently tens of people all over the known world using the magic ink to report various scoops of news to the printers. When the scoop is too good, a photo will be taken and sent back.
Amongst the first news reported is a wedding pact between a Frey girl and the King in the North. The details about Robb's earlier refusal to marry the girl and his subsequent heart felt apology to lord Frey are all reported.
A photo of the two and Walder Frey's smiling face of both his old and young looking face side by side photo, taking a photo with King Robb after the deal was made and after her took the pill. Both are coated on the News paper. Robb had agreed to the article so that Frey's betrayal will be known wide after the wedding.
It is safe to say the first news paper was a success. When kings landing saw the photo of their princess embarrassed and chained, they became enraged. There is very little they can do at this point since they are very broke.
Tywin Lannister feeling enraged by the news, took it upon himself to send his brother Kevin to the iron bank for a loan. Then he must participate in the auction and buy her back no matter how much they want. Tywin still thinks this is the work of one Olivia Snow.
.....