How About No? 6 (Patreon)

How About No?

Chapter 6

-VB-

Alan

The knights escorted me back to their camp. It was, of course, done on foot for me and their horses trotted to match my speed. It was out of the question that a peasant would be allowed on a knight’s horse!

We entered a small town, not a village but an actual town with walls, and I saw with my own eyes who was waiting there.

Because while the knights that led me here were just “normal” knights of the … a house I knew nothing about, it was very fucking hard to not recognize the knights in white cloaks.

But this was even worse for me because I didn’t know anyone of importance during this time period! Fuck, I didn’t even know the name of the king!

(I supposed that both feelings and facts were common for most people, but this only made my internal thoughts and feelings about my situation even worse as I understood even more than before how out of place and unprepared I was. For all I knew, the royalty wishing to meet me - because only the royalty had access to the Kingsguards - might be a psychopathic lunatic who wants me dead for looking funny!)

“Wait here,” the lead knight said as he dismounted and walked into a tavern.

-VB-

Shiera Targaryen

“Your Grace.”

Shiera looked up from where she had been crossing off parts of the map to narrow down where she would find the Cause.

“What is it?” She didn’t know which one of the knights this man was; he was also one of the local small masterly house’s “knights” who followed the Seven up here in the North, making him doubly strange and unfamiliar to her.

“We found an unusual man on the road. He claims to have defeated a dozen bandits by himself.”

She paused.

It … was unusual for a man to defeat a dozen bandits.

“Were there others soldiers or warriors?”

“No, Your Grace. The only other people nearby were the usual travelers and peddlers that the bandits had targeted.”

Unusual, unusual.

“Bring him to me.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

She pushed the map away from her and leaned back into her chair.

She did tell everyone to be on the lookout for unusual people, magic or not. This man would b-.

…?

…

…!

…!!!!

!!!!!!!!

She jolted in her seat and almost screamed. Her hands dug into the arms of the chair and she bit into her own lips to not scream.

What was that?!

What was that just outside of her door?!

The knight just left a few moments ago, so it can’t be him. It can’t be any of the Kingsguard with her. It can’t be Ser B-.

“Your Grace, I’ve brought the man.”

… It was the knight? Huh?

She slowly took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out slowly. Her suddenly frayed nerves remained unsteady and nervous because the presence wasn’t going away. She took three more breaths that way, adapting herself to this unnatural presence, and then steeled herself.

The closest to this feeling she remembered was when she got close to dragon bones.

She might have found the Cause.

“Come in.”

The door opened and -.

The appearance of the man sat in stark contrast to the presence that he exuded. It was clear that the knight couldn’t feel it but Shiera could. It had to be magic in origin. Whereas the presence the man exuded dominated and demanded to be awed and respected, the man looked like he could disappear into a crowd and just disappear.

Not that she would ever be able to lose him when he was making her feel like she stood in front of a dragon.

“Close the door, please.”

The knight did and then bowed. He was about to make the man bow, but she waved him off quickly enough that nothing happened.

“... So you are the reason that all of Westeros and Essos in turmoil.” What could she do to ensure that he did not see her as an enemy or even a worthless bystander? Either result would see her dead if he didn’t care about the consequences. After all, this man was like a dragon. He exuded magic and dominance merely by living. She had to treat him like a dragon… and that meant that he had to be pleased in order for her to not become his target.

All of this was a mistake. She shouldn’t have come up here to the North personally.

“Come again?” he asked her as he narrowed his eyes.

“Everyone can feel what you did all those weeks ago,” she led on. “Was it not what you were trying to do?”

“... No.” He looked around with his eyes only. His eyes landed on a chair on the other side of her desk. “Mind if I sit?”

“You…!” the knight growled at the man’s “disrespect.”

Shiera wanted to scream at the knight but he was also perhaps the only shield she had in the room. Instead, she smiled. “It is alright, ser. And yes, you may.”

“Thank you…?”

“Ah. I am Shiera Targaryen.”

“A princess, then,” he said with a hum. “A beautiful princess up here in the North. Sensing something.” He leaned forward. “You’re a magician, aren’t you?”

She smiled and the knight looked at both her and the man warily.

“I might dabble a bit,” she replied.

He hummed again. “My name’s Alan Marris. A pleasure to meet you,” he said with a smile of his own. “So why come looking for me?”

The knight had enough of the man’s “impudence.”

“You will behave yourself, Alan,” the knight spat, stressing the man’s given name. “You are before her grace, a princess of the Seven Kingdoms!”

-VB-

Alan

I glanced at the knight. The guy who had been somewhat cordial right up to my entrance into the room was … Jesus Christ, did people of this era have personality disorder or something? Talk about a turn in attitude.

“I already told you my circumstances,” I hummed. It’s an annoying thing I did when I didn’t feel comfortable or even nervous. Kind of like a delaying tactic, if you will. “I don’t know how I should react to someone of ‘higher status’ than myself. Can you tell me how I should have acted?”

“You should have bowed the moment you learned of who she was.”

“I see.” I turned to Shiera, who looked at me with a … frozen smile? Hmm, was she waiting for me to do it? Was she keeping her anger down at being disrespected by a “commoner”? “Very well.” I stood up and gave her a bow. “Is that alright?”

She nodded stiffly.

“Now, why have you been looking for me, Your Grace?” I asked her with a smile. No need to piss off a royalty so early into my new life, right?

“... Come with me to King’s Landing. I will shower you with gold, land, and women,” she replied after only a moment. “Serve me, and I will reward you even further.”

I blinked.

… Get involved in that snake’s pit? In politics, backstabbing, fratricide, and lunacy?

“How about no?”