Chapter 33
MELISANDRE
The fire burnt hot in front of her, yet she saw nothing. Once, the Red God would show her victory, and triumph in those flames and yet now as she needed it most, she saw nothing. Only red and orange filled her gaze, as she desperately whispered her prayers for the hundredth time.
Yet no answer came. The boy, he was supposed to be a Demon, and yet he refused to bow down. He knew of her mission, and the rising darkness and claimed with such confidence that Stannis was not the promised Prince.
It should not have shaken her faith in her chosen Prince, and yet for some reason it had and now as the Gods refused to answer her call, she knew that she had to search for an answer.
Hubris, they may be but she was an agent of the Red God. She walked up to her balcony and stared at the Red Commet in the skies, and wondered what it meant.
"Please, show this humble servant your guidance," she prayed once more, as the cold air hit her face, and despite her bare skin no cold could touch her as long as she had her God's blessings.
In the clearing infront of her, men were building the grounds for her King intended to give that boy, his trial tommorow. It was to be great spectacle, and once she had been sure of his victory.
But now doubt had crept up in her heart, and she knew that she must be rid of it, if she were to stand beside her King, the Azor Ahai. If his words were a lie indeed, then she would see him burnt to ash, and his blood would grant her King the red God's favor.
But if they were true. What would become of her then?
So, she turned around and left her room. She had no need of guards, and even without any light she walked through the halls of Dragonstone without any pause, as she walked down the stairs of the cells underneath.
"My lady," a guard stood there at the gates.
"I wish to see the boy once more," she said, and none would dare defy her in this castle, as the man bowed his head and opened the gates. The smell here was revolting, and rotting flesh, and human remains had left a stench that hit one's nose.
She needed little time to reach his cell, and saw him sitting there on the ground with his legs crossed.
He looked so serene, and calm despite the battle awaiting him. He was young, and Stannis was a battle hardened commander who had fought in many wars.
The battle would be fought to the death, and she was expecting him to be more nervous, yet he sat there calmly.
"I knew you would come," and his words shook her, as he opened his eyes and looked straight at her.
"You truly are a demon," she snarled angrily.
"You have filled my heart with doubt," and he laughed.
"I am no demon, Melisandre. I am flesh and blood, just as everyone else in this castle," he began, as he rose from the ground and dusted off his clothes.
"Well all of them except you that is," and his eyes were on his necklace on her neck, as she felt her skin heat up.
'Did he know? But how?' and once more she was surprised.
"Thoros was the one who told me about you," and he was another one of the Red God's servants, one tasked with bringing Robert Baratheon to the light. Yet the man would prefer wines to sermons, and a blade over words.
"About a mysterious shadowbinder who had made a home for herself in Stannis's court. I was rather interested in you when I learned that you had healed my cousin through your magics," and he spoke of Shireen.
"The Gods healed her. I was merely an instrument," and the boy shrugged as he stepped forward until he was mere inches from her.
"Why are you here, Melisandre of Asshai?" he asked looking directly into her eyes.
"If you knew that I would come then you should know that as well," she countered, and he nodded.
"I do, and before you ask I am not the one you seek," and her eyes narrowed.
"Yet you know who he is?" she asked, and he smiled.
"I know it is not Stannis," he answered as he stepped back, and began to walk to and fro.
"I know what they are," and then he gave a light shrug.
"And I have a slight suspicion about who they are," and that was more than she knew.
"Tell me," she demanded, and the jewel in her chest burnt into her skin as she commanded him, and she had noticed how his gaze would linger on her body and skin, and so she stepped forward.
"Tell me and I could make this a very wonderful night for you," she offered, and he shook his head.
"No," he said as he stepped back, and it had failed. Her charm, he had seen through it. Even grown men did not possess such fortitude to resist her, and yet this boy somehow had.
"You corrupted Stannis's mind. Poisoned it. Put me into this cell, and now you ask me to help you," he mocked, and she ground her teeth.
"You would deny me your aide in defeating the chosen Prince, in defeating the Great Other," and he shrugged.
"Just as you would burn me at the stake to support your pretender," he countered.
"Your words have conviction, and yet how am I to believe that this not just a tale being spun by you," she countered, and now he raised a brow.
"You are right to wonder that," he agreed.
"But the I have proof while you have nothing but a heart filled with doubt and fires empty of visions," he answered with a smile as her lips thinned.
"I have words and proof right here in these Halls, and you have nothing but a false prophet," and Melisandre wondered if this was all a ruse, but she had to know.
She had to be certain.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Freedom," he answered in a stern voice.
"You shall have your trial tommo..."
"Yes, I know and while I think that I am better than Stannis when it comes to a duel I would much rather be sure of my victory," and so he was asking for her help, but could she betray her King. He promised Prince.
But she was not here to serve Stannis. She was here to serve Azor Ahai and help him in his crusade against the Great Evil rising in the North.
"Truth is that I am not the demon you think me to be," and his voice was solemn now, and his face softer than it had ever been.
"As I said, I am flesh and blood and I oppose the same evil you call the Great Other," and she did not believe that.
"Then bow your head to Stannis..." and he shook his head.
"Stannis has declared war on me and my family. He has named me a bastard born out of incest," and he sighed.
"My uncle is a great commander but he is a brittle man. The Seven Kingdoms will never bow to him," and now her eyes narrowed.
"And they would to you?" and he nodded as he looked straight into her eyes.
"They will," and he was certain of it.
"Even is Stannis is wrong, you are but a second son yourself. Your brother comes before you just as Stannis's brother came before him," and he smirked now.
"You saw a demon in your fire did you not?" he asked, and she nodded.
"I did. A great evil," and she was certain that it was him. But now she wondered if she had been wrong.
Her powers allowed him to see through the lies, and while the boy infront of her had not been completely honest with her, there had been few lies whispered here.
"We were born together, me and him. I was but a few minutes late, and in the last few months how I have rued that I could not just push Joffrey aside," and her eyes widened.
"You claim that the evil I saw was your own brother," she gasped and he nodded, and it could be possible. They were out of the same womb, and had the same blood.
"I was trying to move against him, and when I failed I decided to flee the country," and he was right.
"If he is not stopped then the fires of war will swallow the Seven Kingdoms, and the none will be left to resist the rise of the great Evil from the North," and Melisandre had much to ponder now, and she hated that it made sense to her.
She wanted to deny him, and yet she had no words. Perhaps the Gods had sent him here so that she could meet him, so that she could learn the truth.
Perhaps she had made a mistake indeed in interpreting her dreams.
"Proof," she whispered, as she steadied her heart.
"Show me the proof, and you shall be victorious tomorrow," she offered, and he shook his head.
"Swear it on your God," he demanded, and she held great devotion to him.
"I swear it by the one true God," and the small fire in the lamp rose with her words as her eyes widened.
He pointed to the cell behind her.
"They have placed my armor, and my blades in that cell. In there you shall find a dagger, one made out of Valyrian Steel," and the cell was open, and Melisandre walked slowly and honorable as he was Stannis had had his armor polished and his blades sharpened for the trial tommorow.
She saw the dagger placed neatly besides his blade, and picked it up. It was lighter than she had expected, but Valyrian Steel was lighter than castle forges steel.
She walked back towards his cell.
"Now what?" she asked, and he looked around towards the burning torch on the wall and grabbed it.
"Do you know whose dagger you hold now?" he asked, and she did not.
"Aegon's," he answered as her eyes widened.
"The Conqueror himself had this forged, and for three hundred centuries after his death it has been passed down from King to heir, first as duty and later as tradition as its true meaning was lost with the turmoil of the Dance," and she had alive then as well, when the dragons had stopped taking to the skies.
"It was not ambition alone which drove the Conqueror to conquer these lands. It was duty as well, for Aegon the Conqueror possessed the same gift as Daenys the Dreamer," and the boy put forward his hand, as Melisandre hesitated for one last time before she thrust it into his hand.
He unsheathed the blade and put it into the flame, as the metal began to turn red.
"He knew about the fragility of paper, and stone so he chose to put down his vision in something far more resilient," and she saw the metal burn hot, as it began to change color.
Grey steel turned to orange, and small writings became clearer as Melisandre's eyes widened.
"From my blood, come the Prince that was promised..." and she could not believe her eyes as she stepped closer to read the next words.
"...and his shall be the song of Ice and Fire!" and it was here.
The message was here, and she fell to her knees as she saw her God's words revealed to her.
"The Prince that was promised," she gasped, as she looked into the flames.
"The Azor Ahai...."
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