Daemon walked through the corridors of the Red Keep with purpose, his body ached but he put that to the back of his mind, he needed to once again curb the King's impulses lest he execute everyone who was on duty when the Brotherhood snuck into the castle. While he was sure some of them were guilty it wasn't exactly hard to blame them, The king was a mad tyrant and if someone made promises of salvation then it would be hard to ignore such a thing.
Though what is much more likely is that they were given gold and silver, whether it be greed or wanting to take care of one's family people's desires and character always shined through "What do you plan to do Daemon?" Lewyn asked as he walked in step with him.
"The King is a vengeful person, at the moment he is redirecting his rage onto the servants as he has no one else to punish" Daemon explained as they walked through the corridors.
"That much is evident, but how will you stop him, he is the King, he does whatever he wants that much is clear" Lewyn replied.
Daemon nodded his head, he had a few ideas but he doubted that any of them would work, the only thing that would work was bringing the Brotherhood in and letting the King direct his rage towards them, he didn't feel too badly about bringing them in as they had tried to hurt people he cared about, so he didn't particularly care if their cause was just.
They eventually made it to the doors of the Throne room and were immediately let in by the two guards who recognised both knights. When Daemon walked inside he was immediately met with the familiar stench of burned flesh, something that made him grimace, It never failed to remind him of Duskindale one of the worst mistakes of his life. Even to this day, he didn't know why he saved the King, he should've let him die.
The throne room seemed to be full as various nobles were off to the side while the guards contained various serving staff and other guards, he saw the royal family who sat in thrones of their own near the bottom of the Iron Throne steps. When he made eye contact with Elia and Rhaella he thought they might jump out of their seats to come and greet him but they were able to contain themselves. He walked through the centre of the throne room to where a young woman was kneeling before the King "Please your grace! I would never betray you, I'm only a kitchen hand" she pleaded desperately as tears formed in her eyes.
The King just started to laugh "You expect me to believe the lies of a wench like you, I bet they spread your legs like a whore and you had all seven of them" he mocked only making the young woman cry more.
Daemon pushed his way through the crowd of nobles before appearing in front of the King, he roughly pushed the young woman aside and knelt before the king which amused Aerys greatly. While he didn't like treating people like that it was the only way to get her out of the situation she was in, otherwise it would've certainly ended with her death "My knight and champion Lord Daemon Silver, I'm glad to see you've recovered, it would've been a loss to the seven kingdoms should you have died"
"Especially when the child ended up being so Dornish," he said while barking with laughter. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Elia clench her fists, though she didn't do it too hard as she had Rhaenys in her arm. He could tell that it hurt her that Rhaegar did not come to her defence on his father's comments.
"It is my duty to serve the royal family, I'm sure your granddaughter will be a dragon in all the ways that matter, she might even share her grandfather's eyes" Daemon stated, The king paused and contemplated for a moment before nodding his head "I suppose you are right, after all who thought a no name bastard such as yourself could rise so high, the girl shares my blood so it is clear she will be strong, good breeding stock" The King stated
There were a few gasps in the audience at his words, to hear the king so openly talk about a Lord and his granddaughter in such a way, though Daemon didn't care much, the king had done much worse "Your grace I believe these trials are a waste of time, it could better be served by going after the culprits and dragging them back here"
"Oh? And how do you suppose we do such a thing 'Lord Silver'" he asked though he was clearly mocking him.
"The Kingswood will most likely be where they've set up camp, it's close to Kings Landing, they have multiple villages they can acquire resources from and its thick woods make it a good place to hide" Daemon replied.
"It seems we are of similar thoughts on the matter, I will simply burn the forest to the ground with them inside and be rid of them," Aerys said with a loud laugh.
"If I might council, it would be wiser to send a small force of knights to take them down. We wouldn't want to get rid of the Kingswood it belongs to you after all" Daemon reasoned as he still knelt and had his head low.
"Wise council yet again, if only my advisors would speak such wise words, then so it shall be. You, Arthur, Barristan, Oswell shall lead a small contingent and bring the Brotherhood to justice" Aerys commanded.
"As you command your grace" Daemon replied and stood up, though before he could leave someone he hadn't seen in a long time stepped forward.
"Your grace I wish to join the contingent, I am squiring to Lord Sumner Crakehall and I believe it is my duty to try and rescue him," Jaime Lannister said as he stepped forward and knelt.
The King looks at him "Come closer boy" he commands and Jaime does so stepping to the first steps of the Iron Throne.
"You don't look like much, but perhaps you could serve as a suitable servant to the real warriors that will be going," Aerys said with a chuckle, he looked to his hand and stood off to the side, though Tywin had no noticeable expression on his face he was positively seething inside at his son being so openly mocked at court.
"I'll be glad to take him as my temporary squire until Lord Sumner can be rescued" Daemon offered
"Very well, though it will be on you should the boy die" Aerys stated, seeing that Tywin did not respond to his mocking he quickly lost interest and moved on.
"Leave as soon as the troops and provisions are ready, I want these traitors to the Iron Throne brought before me," Aerys said before descending the steps of the throne and leaving the room, Everyone else started to file out as soon as he left taking his departure as a dismissal.
Rhaegar descends from his throne "Daemon I am glad you have recovered, it would've been a shame to lose a warrior of your caliber" he said as he clapped him on the back before leaving.
Rhaegar then leans forward and whispers into Daemon's ear
"Would you please make sure Jaime Lannister returns safely, even at the expense of others"
Daemon nods his head "Of course Rhaegar" He was pissed at the man for how uncaring he had been about his wife and child but he still had to follow orders, and it wasn't like he wouldn't have protected Jaime anyway.
Daemon sees Elia signal him, She gestures her head in the direction of the exit, and he nods back understanding she wished to speak with him in private so he would meet her in her chambers. But before that he approached Jaime Lannister who had grown tall and strong "It seems as if I'm talking to a different person than the one I met so long ago" Daemon said with a smile as he clasped his hand.
Jaime smiled back though it was a slightly cocky smile "I've surpassed everyone at the Rock and Lannisport, I wouldn't be surprised if I could give could beat you as well" though Daemon could tell his words were good-natured.
"Mayhaps you could, I'm not as strong as people seem to think, Ser Barristan could probably still knock me on my arse" Daemon lied, though he didn't do this out of malicious intent because he wanted his true strength to remain a secret until people couldn't do anything to prepare for it.
"I hope you'll honour me with a spar once our task is complete," Jaime asked
"Of course what kind of Knight would I be if I didn't train my squire" he said with a smirk.
"Good, I'm looking forward to showing you my Aura ability, My father believes it has the potential to become unsurpassed" Jaime stated with pride.
Daemon nodded "Lord Tywin is an intelligent man, if he believes in your abilities and potential then you should endeavour to not waste it" he replied.
"Now you should go and get ready, We'll be leaving soon, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be left behind," he said with a smirk, Jaime quickly nodded his head and left the room.
"Arthur!" Daemon said loudly to the knight but the man had a stiff expression and ignored him as he left to room presumably to get ready for the task at hand. Daemon couldn't help but find it strange, they were usually on good terms with each other and he'd been unconscious for a while so he couldn't imagine he'd done anything wrong.
He shrugged it off and left the throne room and made his way to Elia's chambers.
"Lord Silver!"
"My Lord!"
"Silver knight!"
Daemon was greeted by those who had attended court nobles and servants alike he nodded cordially to them all giving them all a charming smile, though if he was honest with himself he hated the attention. He sometimes wished he never left Riverrun, he'd enjoyed the time he spent there much more than he had. While he'd never regret the friends he'd made and the people he met, he wanted to sit on that tower again and look at the sunset.
He pushed those thoughts of longing to the back of his mind and focused on the present, he washed the door to Elia's chambers and knocked.
"Enter!" He heard her shout, so he opened the door and walked in only to see she wasn't alone, Rhaella was with her and she was holding her granddaughter. Elia immediately rushed Daemon and jumped into his arms and began to cry "I-I... have no words that would do how grateful I am to you justice" she stuttered as she sobbed into his chest, Daemon wrapped his arms around her and she melted into him.
"You have no reason to thank me, princess, I could never stand by and let you die like that," Daemon said as she hugged him tightly.
Though at her words she lifted her head with a very upset look on her face "No! You will call me Elia! Like you did before" she commanded making Daemon chuckle.
"Because of you I can watch my daughter grow up... there is no way to repay a debt like that," Elia said once again becoming tearful.
Rhaella stands up and lays Rhaenys down carefully on the bed before approaching them both and putting her hand on Daemon's cheek "I'm so happy you're healed" she said with watery eyes.
"You've made the Red Keep a much more bearable place for me over the years, I wouldn't know what to do if I'd lost you" She continued and then hugged his side.
Daemon let them both cry on him while he rubbed their backs and comforted them, though he noticed that there seemed to be someone who was missing "Where is Ashara?" Daemon asked, he felt both Elia and Rhaella go stiff and then felt Elia hug him tightly.
Rhaella was the one who answered, Daemon could tell he wasn't going to like what she was about to say just from the look on her face "Daemon... she was one of the noble ladies taken by the Brotherhood" He felt his whole body stiffen and a deep bubbling rage start to emerge from his depths 'She had been taken and they had not sent out any contingent to track her!' He thought to himself with anger.
"I'm leaving now... the rest can follow behind" Daemon stated, Though he was technically still recovering he couldn't stand the idea of Ashara being in danger.
Elia went on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek "Be safe and please bring her back"
He nodded his head at Elia and then looked towards the Queen, she stared at him with such intensity. They needed no words or actions to convey what they felt, he then turned around and left Elia's chambers and headed towards his own.
(AN: So this is the start of the mini arc of dealing with the Kingswood brotherhood. Here you're finally going to get a good look at the other Netero of this world.)
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