New chapter! Thanks for all the support!
x
"Scorpion venom, a poison from Essos. Extremely rare. A small vial alone is worth dozens of gold dragons.
Once it enters the body through the bloodstream, within minutes it begins to accelerate the heart rate.
As time passes, the effect worsens. In the end, the victim's heart beats so fast that it bursts."
Hearing Jaqen suddenly explain that knowledge of poison, the burly jailer replied impatiently:
"What kind of nonsense is that? I don't care about any of that. I just want to know one thing. Aside from that gold dragon in your hand, where are the rest?"
"The rest? They're already circulating inside your body."
With a smile, Jaqen pointed at him.
"Inside my body…"
Hearing that, the jailer finally reacted. At once, he remembered the faint sting he had felt in his palm when he took the coin.
He hurriedly opened his left hand and saw, right in the center of his palm, a tiny red dot no bigger than a grain of wheat.
Almost immediately, he felt his heart begin to race violently, just as Jaqen had described.
"Ah! You poisoned me! Give me the antidote, now!"
"The antidote is with me. Come inside and take it."
Seeing the jailer reach his hand into the cell, Jaqen smiled and slowly stepped back, retreating once more into the darkness.
Desperate, the jailer did not think it through. He pulled his arm back, took the keys from his belt, and opened the wooden door, stepping inside with his sword in hand.
"Ah!"
A short, abrupt scream echoed, just as expected.
Not long after, the jailer stepped out of the cell. He locked the wooden door again and muttered to himself:
"What poison? Who wouldn't have their heart racing after a scare like that?"
...
Using the secret passage, Robb soon returned to the Tower of the Hand. When he emerged from the tunnel, the sun had already risen in the east, casting its light over all of Westeros.
He did not follow Varys's suggestion to go straight to the chambers in the Tower of the Hand and then leave the Red Keep through the passage.
Instead, he stood by the window of the tower hall, carefully watching the imposing Maegor's Holdfast not far away.
Sansa was there.
Robb did not act rashly.
At that moment, the Red Keep was under heavy guard. And it was not only the large number of Gold Cloaks.
Barristan Selmy alone, leading the Kingsguard, was not someone to face lightly.
Even in old age, Barristan the Bold was the kind of man who grew old without truly weakening.
Combined with Jaime's monstrous skill with the sword, even with Robb's greatly increased strength, facing the two of them alone might leave him with no chance of escaping alive.
As the sun rose higher, large groups of Gold Cloaks began moving inside the Red Keep.
Nearly half of them were withdrawn from the castle.
Robb knew this was either to continue the search for him, or to maintain order during the king's funeral that day.
Sensing that the opportunity had come, he began moving silently toward the base of the Tower of the Hand.
The ground floor of the Tower of the Hand was directly connected to Maegor's Holdfast. And since no one was currently living there, there was naturally no fixed guard in place.
Even so, watching from the staircase on the second floor, Robb saw a Gold Cloak on patrol slowly emerging from the passage connecting Maegor's Holdfast to the hall of the Tower of the Hand. The man walked to the center of the ground floor hall before turning back the same way.
When the soldier disappeared back into Maegor's Holdfast, Robb seized the opening and dashed down from the second floor to the connecting passage, holding his breath as he waited for the man to make his next round.
Step… step.
The Gold Cloak began walking slowly again, patrolling toward the hall of the Tower of the Hand.
The moment he stepped inside, a black-gloved hand shot out from the right, seized his throat, and dragged him into the shadows.
With his left arm, Robb locked the man's neck, preventing any cry for help.
With his right hand, he gripped the Gold Cloak's jaw and twisted it to the left.
Instinctively, the soldier strained his neck to the right in resistance.
Feeling that resistance, Robb suddenly reversed the motion and twisted hard to the right.
Crack!
The man's own resistance turned into force in the same direction as Robb's movement.
His neck snapped easily. His windpipe was crushed, and even his cervical spine broke.
Soon after, after hiding the corpse and Ice inside a cabinet in the hall, Robb put on the Gold Cloak's armor and walked openly toward Maegor's Holdfast.
Just as he expected, there were far fewer guards inside.
Using the Gold Cloak helmet, keeping his head lowered and moving as if on routine patrol, he passed through the area without drawing any attention.
Upon reaching the internal staircase, Robb glanced quickly to both sides and began climbing.
He had just passed the second floor and was about to move to the third when he suddenly heard footsteps coming down from above.
Robb reacted instantly, stepping back to the second floor and slipping silently into an empty room beside the staircase, hiding behind the door.
"Hound, before we depart, take my betrothed downstairs. At my father's funeral, her cries need to be loud."
Dressed in golden royal garments, Joffrey descended the stairs while giving orders to the Hound.
Hearing his voice, Robb slowly moved his hand toward the hilt of his sword.
"Your Grace, it is nearly time. Your ceremonial attire should already be prepared."
An old, firm, powerful voice followed immediately after Joffrey spoke.
The moment he heard it, Robb understood.
That could only be Barristan the Bold.
"Mm. Hound, we'll change first. After that, don't forget what I told you."
"As you command, Your Grace."
Hearing Barristan's voice, Robb withdrew his hand from his sword and held his breath, remaining motionless behind the door.
Joffrey's group descended quickly, never even considering checking the rooms on the second floor.
Once they had gone, Robb stepped out cautiously and resumed climbing.
At the highest level of Maegor's Holdfast, Sansa, tall, slender, and delicate-faced, paced back and forth inside the room where she was being kept, her face filled with worry.
Not long ago, she had begged Joffrey to spare her father.
But all she had received in return was mockery and cold words.
At that moment, she felt deeply that without her father's support, she was nothing, someone without any standing.
Creeeak.
The door to the room opened.
A Gold Cloak entered quickly and shut the door behind him.
"Who are you? What are you trying to do?
Don't come any closer! I am the daughter of the Hand of the King!"
Seeing the guard acting so suspiciously, Sansa panicked and retreated again and again, trying to threaten him.
Hearing his sister's familiar voice, Robb removed his helmet and spoke softly:
"Sansa, it's me."
"Robb…"
At that moment, upon seeing her brother's face, Sansa seemed to come back to life.
Like a bird returning to its nest, she ran to him and threw herself into his arms.
"Robb… Father was thrown into the dungeons… and Septa Mordane, because of me…"
Since Eddard's arrest, Sansa had endured everything alone in silence.
But seeing her older brother before her, all the pressure she had been holding inside collapsed at once, and she could no longer hold back her tears.
With his left arm, Robb pulled her close. With his right hand, he gently stroked her long auburn hair and comforted her in a low voice:
"Sansa, don't cry. We're going home."
x
x
x
If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader