Arabella's visit to Maester Desmond's quarters was quick. She simply unlocked the door with the Alohomora charm, strolled inside, went to the place she knew the letter was, inside a hidden compartment in the scribing table, picked it up and left.
She passed by Arya's bedroom to check if the girl was there and she found her fast asleep. Understandable, given the stresses they had been under recently, from the mentally taxing casting of the protective barrier over Pinkmaiden to the most recent attempt on their lives.
Arabella was sure Arya would have chosen to stay awake even at such a late hour, given the weird position she found herself sleeping in at the moment, a clear indication that it had been exhaustion that put her to sleep. Looking at the girl's peaceful slumber and with the reassurance that Nymeria was there keeping watch, she chose to let her rest and she went to the main hall alone.
The number of people in the hall had decreased significantly compared to the banquet a couple of hours before. No servants could be found and many of the less renowned knights were not present. Only the Lords and relevant knights remained seated at the table, their looks a mix of tiredness, worry and disdain for the disheveled figure being held on his knees by two guards.
The doors opened to reveal Arabella walking in with purposeful strides. She still wore the same dress she had worn during the banquet and the interrogation of the Maester. Despite her visit to the dungeons, however, her garment looked impeccably clean. It was her signature green dress with the embroidered Slytherin silver snake alongside her sleeves. In addition to the King's moniker of The Witch of Westeros, many had also given her a new nickname based on the sigil of her house, The Silver Snake. In truth, she liked this one even better than the King's. Lady Arabella Silver Snake Slytherin, now that had a nice sound to it. Like a viper's sybil.
The Witch passed by Maester Desmond without even glancing at him, going straight to Lord Piper and handing him the letter from the Citadel.
"Lord Piper, please read this missive I found in the Maester's room. It comes straight from the Citadel. Once you're done, please pass it on to the other Lords. I'm sure you will find the contents inside quite disconcerting"
The Maester's head dropped and he dared not look towards the table of the assembled Lords anymore. Now that the letter had been found, his fate was double sealed. He'd die today, either by the Witch's hand or theirs.
Lord Clement read the letter wide-eyed and then passed it to his son, Ser Lewyn.
"How dare they! An attack against a foreign noble under our sacred traditions of Guest Rights. This… this is unthinkable!" roared Lord Piper "What was your order thinking when they gave you this?"
The Lords were taken aback by the sudden outburst but as they read the letter their shock could only be matched by their anger.
"Are you so appalled by magic that you were willing to assassinate a noble? More than that, to spark a diplomatic crisis? We don't know much about Lady Slytherin's land, that's true, but what if someone eventually came asking for her and found out she was dead? What do you think would happen?"
No answer came from the Maester.
"Maester Desmond" Ser Lewyn added "you've served in this castle for more than a decade. Did House Piper treat you so badly that you'd dare tarnish our honor with an assassination attempt? You know the shame and the consequences of such dishonor would be to our House if the murder of someone under Guest Rights had succeeded. Why did you do that?"
Once again, there was no response from the Maester.
"My Lords, that was not the only betrayal he committed" said Arabella
"No?" asked Lord Vance "what else has this grey rat done?"
Nobody saw it, but the Maester's expression darkened at being called the derogatory name many unkind Lords used to refer to those of his order.
"Unfortunately no, My Lords, he has also given information about our forces here at Pinkmaiden to Tywin Lannister. The letter was delivered right before we arrived yesterday. When the Old Lion reached us this morning, he already knew I was here as well as the number of our troops and our estimated provisions."
An uproar of furious Lords and unsheathed swords rang across the hall. Arabella thought she'd have to prove her accusation, but after all that happened, the Lords weren't even thinking about the due process of Law.
The Maester was supposed to be on their side and his actions brought shame to them all. However, if he was a traitor siding with the Lannisters, the previous assassination attempt would have no ties to them and their honour would not be tarnished. That being said, this rational thought was only a small portion of why they reacted that way. The main reason was that they were simply angry.
"Traitorous bastard!" shouted Ser Lewyn.
"I'll kill you myself" roared Lord Vance
"Take his head and send it to the Lannisters" added Lord Wayn
"This grey rat needs to die for his betrayal. His actions are an affront to the Old Gods and the New!" shouted Lord Whent
"What are we waiting for? Let's Kill the bastard!" said another knight.
At this moment, Lord Clement Piper intervened.
"My Lords, wait! We can't kill him just yet. If the Citadel is indeed working against us, none of us is safe. If they dared to try and kill Lady Slytherin, what stops them from killing us the moment we present a problem to the grey rats? We need to know who else is in this conspiracy apart from him and Archmaester Corren. I suggest we extract the truth out of him before sending him to the Seven Hells."
"I have already done that, My Lord" said Arabella "He is unaware of other conspirators apart from the Archmaester that sent him orders. It seems they operate on a need to know basis and only the Archmaesters involved know the full picture of who's in and who's not. We'd need to interrogate one of them. However, what I can say is that not all Maesters are involved in this. Most of them don't even know about the existence of such a conspiracy, which exists in the order far before my arrival and any of our births. It all has to do with the presence of Magic in Westeros and that spans centuries."
She took her time explaining to the gathered Lords what Maester Vayman had told her regarding the inner factions of the Citadel and why so many of them were so opposed to Magic. She also mentioned her suspicion that the Maesters and the Faith of the Seven could be working together to undermine her.
"Lady Slytherin, that's even more reason for us to act" said Lord Piper "these grey rats have been gathering knowledge and connections for centuries under the guise of aiding the Lords of the Realm and now they even spun the Faith into action and support traitors such as Tywin Lannister. How long until we're all declared heretics for supporting you? How long until the very septons we harbor in our lands start putting our own subjects against us? How long until a Maester poisons any Lord that dares disagree with the Citadel? We must warn the King about this and march on Oldtown as soon as the Lannisters are dealt with."
The Maester was about to speak when the mention of taking action against the Citadel was uttered, but one of the guards keeping him down punched him in the face, making him groan in pain instead. Arabella looked at him and she decided the man had outlived his worth.
"Indeed, Lord Piper. The King should be informed about this conspiracy, after all, he too is tended by a Maester, one who is deeply in touch with the Archmaesters and who has shown some Lannister favouritism in the past."
Walking towards the one handed Maester, she took her wand out and continued speaking.
"Moreover, I believe the Citadel should go through a reform. No more should their knowledge be kept so secretively, it should be given to all so the realm can finally advance from its stagnated state. Tell me, My Lords, when was the last time any of you heard of a new invention, a new cure for a grave illness or something that would make your lives improve for the better? Hells even when it comes to war, which this continent has in abundance, it is stagnant. The latest siege engines were created, say, a couple centuries ago?"
Many Lords nodded in agreement. Although the idea of an educated populace was not appealing to many of them, they couldn't deny the argument that their society hadn't advanced at all for a long long time.
Arabella continued, circling the Maester.
"No more should they be the only source of administrative advice that the Lords can turn to, there should be more people properly educated with these skills to ease your burdens. Think of it, my Lords, a properly trained class of bureaucrats and advisors to count those boring coppers and make sure the land strays profitable and taken proper care of, while you can focus on keeping the law and the protection of your subjects. No more should they hold such sway over the Seven Kingdoms, they should be only what they show themselves as, scholars and teachers, nothing more."
For the gathered Lords, it made sense. Now, in many of their minds, if they needed to give away a little investment in the form of education of the common folk to later reap the rewards of a richer and more advanced land, and in turn, more tax revenue and more gold in their pockets, so be it. Many understood that with new inventions there was a lot of money to be gained. Not to mention it would curtail the Citadel's influence and power over them, a win-win from them as far as they were concerned.
"I say we eliminate all the traitorous and ambitious rats and keep only the loyal ones into this new system, starting with this rat right here!" she said, pointing her wand at Maester Desmond.
"Hear, hear!"
"Hear, hear!"
"Hear, hear!"
Arabella smiled. In the beginning, she had no intention of influencing any profound social reforms in Westeros, but since the Citadel decided it would scheme against her, she'd destroy their power once and for all. After all, no one messes with a Slytherin.
All the eyes were staring at her, waiting for how she'd kill the Maester. If they were hoping for a prolonged show, however, they'd be disappointed. Arabella was going to execute him, yes, but not for her or anyone's enjoyment. It needed to be done, and it would be done with her still keeping her humanity and not giving in to barbaric anger. Fast and painless.
"Avada Kedavra!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, the green bolt of lighting enveloped the Maester and his body hit the floor, already pale, cold and lifeless. For a while there was silence until one Lord shouted.
"Death to the traitorous bastards!"
What followed was a cacophony of warcries Arabella didn't know such a small group of men was capable of doing.
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The morning sun hit Arabella's face as she woke up. Its light however, was not the reason why she had just woken up at such an early hour of the morning. There was someone knocking on her door and shouting.
"Arabella, wake up!" shouted a voice she knew well "Wake up, you need to see this, wake up!"
Urged by the voice, Arabella stood from the bed and used some quick spells to get her clothes, hair and light makeup in order.
"Arabella, come on! Wake up" said Arya as the door opened. She was knocking with such strength and speed that she almost punched Arabella in the chest when the wooden surface moved away from her hand.
"Arya, what the hell is going on?"
The girl answered all the while pulling her across the corridor.
"The barrier! It is breaking!"
By the time they arrived on the courtyard, large holes could be seen on the magical barrier, which now wasn't as translucent as before, with clear hints of orange as its edges came in contact with the air. No sooner had she assessed the dire level of the breaches, a voice could be heard from the walls.
"The catapults are firing, brace for impact!"
As the massive boulders flew towards the sky, Lords, knights and captains rushed from side to side barking orders. Men were hastily climbing the stairs towards the wall, in order to assume defensive positions, since the garrison was caught off guard with the barrier coming undone. For three nights the barrier had held and they had been lulled into a sense of security, thus reducing the number of soldiers on watch on the walls.
"Arya, we need to repair the barrier" shouted Arabella with her wand already pointing up "Protego Ma…"
Her words were interrupted by the sound of stones hitting the walls and men being crushed or flung away by the debris. Arya was also taken aback all the while the cracks in the barrier became wider and wider. More than half of it was already gone.
They kept their efforts for 2 more minutes, trying to repair the damage, but they were much less focused than last time, given all the chaos surrounding them. The barrier had regained some of its previous area when a new volley of stones passed through, with only four of them getting caught in the barrier.
One of them, though, was coming straight towards the girls. Arabella thought quickly and exploded the boulder with the Bombarda spell, while the other five hit their marks either by hitting the walls, the courtyard or the castle. Arya continued chanting the spells to recoup the barrier, but now alone and with many distractions, her efficacy was severely diminished.
Barely had she finished dealing with that stone when Arabella noticed that the boulder that had hit the castle actually hit the southern tower. The tower started to bend forwards and, by the trajectory, it was about to fall straight on top of a large cluster of soldiers.
"Reparo!" she shouted, pointing her wand towards the crumbling tower. A pulse of magic came through and started bringing the tower back into its palace, taking quite a bit of her concentration. The men who were about to get hit had only a few seconds to look at her in gratitude before someone shouted.
"Arrows incoming! Take cover! Take Cover!"
The volley of arrows was mostly aimed at the wall, though a few shafts managed to go even further into the courtyard. It wasn't a particularly deadly volley, since the barrier still took out some of the arrows and the walls themselves obviously helped as defensive structures went. Still, new shouts were added as few more dead and wounded joined the grim count of casualties.
"Protego!" shouted Arya, using the shield charm to deflect a few stray arrows that had come her way.
Another set of boulders hit their defenses. This time only two were blocked by the barrier, though most luckily missed any relevant targets anyways. Arabella looked at the chaos around her as people dragged the wounded inside the castle on stretchers.
Arya and her tried to concentrate again in reforming the barrier, but they were constantly having to interrupt the process to stop an arrow or a boulder from hitting them or some part of the castle from falling on them. All in all, it was becoming clear to both Witches that keeping the barrier up was going to be a lost cause.
As if to add to their woe, a deep horn sounded. Ser Lewyn Piper came running to their position.
"My Lady! The enemy has sounded a charge! Tywin is throwing everything at us. We're being attacked on the northern, eastern and southern gates! My father asks if the barrier can be restored in time!" the man said with clear worry and some blood and dust in his face.
The sound of stone crushing stone and men screaming interrupted her before she could speak. Looking towards the mostly dissipated barrier, she could only sigh in frustration. If the enemy had taken longer to catch on, they'd have been able to restore the barrier fully before the catapults started firing.
However, once the bombardment and the fighting had started, it was almost impossible for them to bring it back. After all, even some of the greatest wizards and witches in the Battle of Hogwarts did not have the means to do so once Voldemort broke the barrier down and the enemies started pouring into the castle. They were too distracted having to survive, much like Arya and Arabella were now.
"No, Ser Lewyn. We can't bring the barrier back, at least not now. There are too many distractions. The spell is delicate and without proper concentration we can't make it." she said with a disappointed tone.
"So there will be battle" answered the knight, steeling himself.
She looked towards the walls where men tried to take cover from the enemy archers, while answering with their own arrows and crossbow bolts. She looked at the wounded being carried inside at an increasing number. She looked at Arya, trying to hide her fear.
Then an idea struck her. She didn't need to make another barrier now. If she could make them retreat for long enough, they could have time to bring the protective charms up again. And she knew exactly what to do to make it happen.
It was something the old enemy of the wizarding world and his minions liked to use to scare the people. And, if it worked with wizards and witches that were very much familiar with magic, she was going to make the men of Westeros shit themselves.
"No, Ser Piper, there won't be a battle. Not if I can help it" she said as she pointed her wand towards the sky and shouted.
"MORSMORDRE!"
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Hey everyone! Agandor here!
As always, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and that it was a cool read.
I want to inform you that next week I'll be traveling so our schedule will change a bit. Here it goes:
This week I will only post on Monday (today) and Friday.
Next week, there will be a chapter on Wednesday.
The week after that, I'll post on Wednesday and Friday.
When we reach the last week of July, I'll be back to posting as normal on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.