The Skull
(With
@MrDidact@Nightwing95)
On the Silver Serpent, as Rhaegar and the crew awaited Aemon, a form melted out of the shadows. She wore black robes, with a shaved head that reflected the moonlight and empty eyes that did not fit her youthful face. Her lips were dark blue and set in a thin line void of expression. She stood in the middle of the deck and found Rhaegar's gaze and she said in quiet, whisper that still reached all of them, "Who are you?" The shadows seemed to twist around her, swirling in ways that were impossible, and the darkness seemed to deepen as she bored her eyes into the Prince's.
As they watched, several masked men armed with cruel weapons of black steel stepped out of the shadows behind the sorceress, along with several snarling hounds with coats as black as sin and just as sleek, red eyes that burned and gnashing teeth. Black dogs. Spiritual warhounds of myth, come alive.
The Sorceress spoke once more, "Identify yourself. Or die."
Rhaegar had to wrap his hand around the pommel of Dark Sister tightly in order to prevent himself from visibly flinching. That second sentence wasn't one of the many idle threats that graced his ear during the length of this campaign, neither one he exchanged so many times with sparring partners during the heat of practice. This shadowy woman seemed truly ready to rip out the soul out of his body....
But he wouldn't just stay still like a statue, if not for his own sake then for all the men that his brother left under his care. Those upon the deck already begun diverting their attention towards the new presence, so the young Prince decided to finally speak. "My name is Aegar the Younger, cabin-boy for Captain Draxos. He left me in charge of the ship until he returns from his errants." his delivery might not have been as succesful as Viserys', but he would be damned if he let their cover be blown in the first few minutes.
The woman was quiet, regarding the youth absolutely silently while her men formed a ring behind her, facing off with the gathering shipmates who hadn't yet drawn steel but were close to doing so. Stannis Seaworth stood by Rhaegar's side and kept his stony silence, but there was tension and fear in the air. The blue lips and shaved head marked her as one trained by the Warlocks of Qarth. But her command of darkness also suggested she was at least familiar with the infamous Shadowbinding of Asshai. An adept of either discipline would be daunting enough. None among them had seen or heard of one who was learned in both.
The Sorceress sneered then, showing small pointed teeth and said, "Aegar? A warrior's name. Are you a warrior, boy? You stand as if you are. You have a sword. Tell me, why did the infamous Captain Draxos leave his cabin boy in charge? I didn't know he placed such trust in his concubines." She laughed lowly then..
"Why are you so far away from the rest of the fleet? Don't you wish to join your comrades? One would think there is a lack of trust." Her expression hardened again and all could see that violence could erupt at any moment. The woman's shadow from the moonlight writhed and twisted behind her.
Seran watched the scene unfold from inside the Cabin, as he made the final touches to his disguise and wrappings. He had concocted the idea halfway, as he probably thought that after Goldbeard's incident they were looking for a man with his characteristics. But...if he wasn't a man, then he would be technically safer. He reminded embarassed how his former commander had ordered him several times to appear as someone of the fairest gender. And given his features and how much he resembled his sister...
He cleared his throat, shifting his pitch. "Ooooh, Aegar, what is the hold up? I want to see your mighty blade!" He said, in a near perfect impression of Lysara's voice. Seran was now dressed in some clothes lent by Lira, as well as having changed his bandages. He had, however kept the sword at hand. He felt somewhat...conflicted about how well the dress seemed to fit.
Somehow it became even more silent, as most of those gathered turn to look in bafflement. Even the masked men seemed flabbergasted. The sorceresses' expression turned to one of annoyance, a slight twist of her blue lips and she grit her teeth as she nodded to one of her men. A masked henchman stepped forward and leveled a crossbow at Seran and the warlock said, "Answer the questions or your whore is the first one to die. If I do not receive a satisfactory answer within the next few moments, I will leave you alive and inflict such torment on you that your own mother wouldn't recognize you. Now, speak!"
"I...I just..." Rhaegars cheeks did flare red at the sight, but out of some kind of miracle, he managed to turn the shame at the sight into an expression of fear once a crossbow was trained towards them. He knew what Seran was trying to do, so if they pulled through this then he swore to all the Gods he knew, he would strangle the Lyseni with his bare hands.
"My father was a great warrior...or at least my mother said so. The famed Corsair Aegar the Painted, she gave me his name so it could lend me strength..." he quickly remembered the name of one of the Pirate Captains Aemon encountered during his tenure as Fleet Commander, raising his arms just slightly to the present threat "I just make the Captains bed and bring him his wine...but he promised....he promised that if I follow his exact orders do a good job he would promote me to a fighter." he pleaded perfectly before turning to look at the disguised Seran "Please show her mercy, she is nothing but a working girl...slaving for some easy coin."
The sorceress' lip twisted pensively, "The Painted? A great pirate, to be sure. Killed by the Crown Prince only a few years ago. I had not known he had a son." The shadows shifted, covering her form and then the darkness seemed to jump, oozing across the floor in a rapid shift until she stood in front of Rhaegar examining him, "Hmm, yes. You do have the look. The blood of Valyria, clearly."
"I suppose, you wouldn't know why Draxos does what he does too much. The man has always been mysterious." She walked around him, examining him as if he were a prize horse, "Tell me, Aegar the Younger. Why are you here? Why follow in your poor, dead father's footsteps?"
''I am not sure he knew either..." the Prince finally allowed his posture to relax somewhat, feeling that they were halfway out of fatal danger...a few more lies and suspicions would finally be abed "My mother came from a poor family in Volantis and I was born outside of the Black Walls. The only possible futures for me was either starve to death, sell my good looks for coin, or jump aboard the first ship that sailed out of the port." It was obvious what the choice was, but his mind didn't stop there with the weavng of his tale. "I came aboard the Silver Serpent recently when I heard Captain Draxos was gathering men to join the enemies of the Iron Throne here in the Stepstones. My fathers blood stains those Dragons, and I want nothing more than my rightful vengeance."
Upon the sight of the Crossbow, Seran tensed almost immediately. Things were going not so well, and while he had actually suceeded at baffling and confusing the paranoid and stubborn assailants, it was far from a deal breaker. He steeled himself as he crumpled to a heap "IIIIH don't shoot me!" He said, forcing his voice to emit a pitch as high as possible. He had no doubt that this stunt would break his voice for days afterwards if he kept it like this, but he seldom had a choice. Rhaegar's quick followup was a welcome surprise. Perhaps there was hope for the self-appointed Dumb Dragon. He merely might have another kind of smarts that could not be relied upon when reading books, but that were most useful in the most pointy situations.
"They are a bunch of bastards." He muttered, feigning a very convincing spite. "There was this Visarlis, or whatever he was called. He wanted me to seduce an elderly man for his own amusement, but I could not do it. When I denied him the boon, his troops left me like this." Technically,
this was not evenven a lie, but he had omitted quite a few important details of the truth. "I was lucky to be found by Aegar and the captain after having to leave Lys." He confided, still crumpled in the ground.
The woman stopped in front of Rhaegar, looking directly into his eyes. She had been at a height with the Prince, but now, in the dark, it seemed as if she had grown... taller somehow, though most of her form was still wrapped in the night. She nodded minutely, "Revenge. The purest of motivations. I can see it in your eyes. You're a killer." She leaned in, grabbed his hand in her cold clammy one, "You have a touch of.. destiny about you. You will do either great or terrible things. If you live long enough."
Her head snapped to Seran, she smiled sickingly, "Viserys perhaps? Let me be clear. Did you encounter this person before or after you left Lys?"
"I...It...It's hard to explain, scarly lady Warlock Shadowbinder almightier, don't eat the marrow of my bones, please!" Seran forced himself to squeak and stutter, giving the impression he was terrified, as he began to spin a tale. "I saw my sister poison a nobleman in Lys, okay? I just wanted to get out of the city!" He whimpered. "So there were these guys seeking for cute girls, and they had a too good offer, and the next thing i remember is being stranded nowhere with my broken face and my backside sore! Damn Siverlys! He got me out of Lys and then threw me out on a whim!" He reassured. He hoped by using a few of the darkest events during his Lysene life would probably sell the spinster tale. And by using such ship trickery and misnaming he would assure some more leeway should he be pressed further in the interrogation.
The sorceress' face became visibly thoughtful and she spoke very quietly, "What did he look like? Tell me. Now. Tell me truly." She stayed where she was in front of the Prince, but locked eyes with Seran.
"Valyrian? Just like half of my city!? I don't know! A lowly little me can't look at important people at the face unless directly told to. Or else they just hit me!" He said, almost making his voice break with panic."Don't eat my bones please."
The sorceress growled, and the sound was positively animal. She turned to the so-called Aegar with a grimace, "What do you know about this wench's story? Speak!"
"First of all, let us be calm. We might not be friends but Captain Draxos told me not to be afraid of allies..." Rhaegar finally said, making a hand gesture as a request to lower the Crossbow that was somehow still traced at him and the disguised Seran. He then motioned for the Shadowbinder to come closer as he lowered his voice slightly "Believe me my Lady, we didn't take this girl with us for her quick wits or her skill as a storyteller....but despite her line of work, she hasn't display a tendecy of lies yet. Just spare some coin and with my sweet words, you will have her sing to you like a canary." the uptight Prince had truly morphed through his deceit, speaking with a certain amount of cunning that could almost confuse him with the late Littlefinger.
The sorceress grimaced and gestured to the crossbowman, who let loose a bolt right next to the apparent prostitute's ear and she gritted her teeth, "No coin for you harlot. Tell me if you know any more now, and speak truly. Everything you know. And if I see you lying, I will take you with me. Tell the truth and I'll let you all live and part ways with me in peace." The shadows around the woman grew deeper as she stared the supposed harlot in the eye, "Now talk."
"IIIH!" Seran let the most high pitched scream ever, as he squirmed to find Rhaegar's back, as a small terrified animal. If they had fired the bolt one minute ago, he would have not flinched. It took some time to get in character, after all, but he now was impersonating half of the people he saw on Lys streets at night. He had many chances to observe, after all. He began to speak quickly in his native lyseni, feigning a panic attack. <<"ImsorryAegarIjustriedtofittinIliedabouttheprinceaVolantenebastardtrickedmeIdontwanttobekickedout!">> He pieced together as fast as he could.
"Take a breath...be calm..." Rhaegar had to feign his own care as an answer to the disguised mercenaries pretend panic attack. He even cupped his cheeks into his hands, a notion that he made to seem lovingly in an extent....but Gods if they could manage to get out of this alive, he would recant his previous thoughts of throwing Seran in the deepest Black Cell for the embarrasement. "No one is going to hurt you, I promise."
He would then turn his attention to the demonic woman that ordered her man to shoot at them with a crossbow "You see Lady Shadowbinder, she isn't the most quick-witted one...a customer of hers from Volantis fabricated his identity, making her believe he was the Prince. This was all a great misunderstanding."
The Sorceress stared intensely at both of them for a long moment, her expression void of any emotion as she measured them, then finally she said, "Very well. I'll leave you and your plaything alone then. Tell Draxos, I give him my regards."
She looked back, staring into Rhaegar's eyes, "We will meet again."
The Sorceress stepped into the shadows, her men following, her. There was a rush of wind, cold. The world dimmed for a moment. And she was gone.
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