POV: Brynden River
The small council was already gathered when I arrived. King Daeron sat at the head of the table, looking tired. Grand Maester shuffled through papers. The Master of Coin looked worried and the Master of Laws even more so.
"Brother," the king said. "Sit. We were discussing the situation in Kingswood."
I took my seat. "What situation?"
"Bandit activity has increased," the Master of Laws said. "Travelers are being attacked. Merchants robbed. Three wagons burned just yesterday."
"They're fleeing the city," I said. "The plague. People are afraid. Some are turning to banditry out of desperation."
"We need more City Watch patrols," the Master of Coin said. "We need to secure the roads."
"We need to stop the plague first," I said. "Everything else is secondary."
King Daeron nodded slowly. "How many dead now?"
"I lost count after a thousand."
Silence fell over the table.
"I got word of Prince Baelor," I continued. "He's a day's ride from King's Landing. He has Prince Daeron, Prince Valarr, Prince Aegon, and Ser Duncan the Tall with him."
The king's face tightened. "If only the tourney had kept going for a few more days, tell him to stay away. If they come into the city now—"
"They'll be exposed to the plague," I finished. "I know. I've already sent ravens warning him."
"Will he listen?"
"Baelor is cautious. He'll listen."
The king rubbed his temples.
"It will pass, Your Grace. All plagues do eventually." I said.
"How many will die before it does?"
I had no answer for that.
The council meeting continued for another hour. Plans were made and orders were given. None of it would matter much if the plague kept spreading.
When it finally ended, I returned to my chambers in the Tower of the Hand.
I still have one more thing to do, that king's guard, I didn't like the look on his face when I left.
I warged into one of my ravens.
Through its eyes, I searched for Ser Lucamore.
Found him near the kitchens, walking quickly, looking over his shoulder.
'Sigh, his not even trying to hide whatever his doing.'
I can't follow him inside so I flied near windows.
At this point I knew what he intended to do, he was going towards the black cells.
'For whom? Only people there nowadays, are people who are suspected of being infected.'
The raven flew to a window near the black cells.
Ser Lucamore appeared below, unlocking a cell. He pulled the lever and led someone out. The older guard. The one whose daughter I'd burned earlier today.
They didn't speak. Lucamore just gestured and the guard followed.
They moved through passages I knew well. Secret tunnels built by King Maegor centuries ago. Routes that led outside the castle walls.
I followed with the raven, flying from window to window, staying close.
They emerged in a normally less crowded area of Flea Bottom. However, it wasn't less crowded today.
A massive crowd of at least two thousand people was packed into a square. With angry faces, raised fists, and torches burning.
In the corner, I can see City Watch members, around ten of them piled like a small mountain, all dead.
Ser Lucamore climbed onto a wooden platform. Raised his hands. The crowd quieted.
"Brothers! Sisters!" he shouted. "The Hand of the King burns your families alive! Throws them into fire while they still breathe!"
I heard roars of anger from the crowd.
"He serves a mad king who does nothing while plague kills us all!"
"From today, no more burnings! We will kill Bloodraven! We will kill the king! We will choose a new ruler who cares for the people!"
The crowd erupted.
I pulled out of the raven and back into my own body.
My hands were steady as I stood and walked to the long wooden box in the corner of my room.
Inside lay my weirwood bow. White as bone. Carved with runes older than the Targaryens. And a quiver of arrows fletched with raven feathers.
I strapped the quiver to my back and took the bow.
Then I left the tower and headed toward Flea Bottom.
….
I climbed to the roof of a brothel overlooking the square. The angle was perfect. Clear line of sight to the platform where Ser Lucamore stood.
I nocked an arrow and let my mind slip again.
This was the thing I'd learned after losing my eye. Most men couldn't warg and do other things at the same time. The mind couldn't split that way.
But I'd lost my right eye years ago. And I'd learned that the empty socket could still see. Not with flesh, but with magic.
I found a raven circling above the square and slipped into it. Saw the crowd through its eyes.
But I could still feel my hands on the bow. Could still feel my body on the roof.
Two perspectives at once. Raven and man. Sky and ground.
I drew the bowstring back. Used the raven's eyes to aim.
Ser Lucamore was still shouting. "We will march on the Red Keep! We will take back our city!"
I released.
The arrow caught Ser Lucamore in the forehead.
Thud
As he dropped to the ground, passing the arrow dipper in his head, the crowd started screaming.
I nocked another arrow. Drew. Released.
A man in the front row fell.
Another arrow. Another body.
The crowd started panicking. People ran in all directions, trampling each other in their desperation to escape.
I kept shooting. After the twentieth arrow, the square was empty; only corpses remained.
Sigh
I let out tired sigh, sometimes mercy looked like cruelty.
Sometimes justice required blood.
That was the burden of being Hand of the King.
And I will carry it as long as I have to.
….
(A/N: Three days after Dunk met Daemon II Blackfyre, Bloodraven found a ship with infected people.
When Dunk won the tourney, it was already a week since Bloodraven found that ship, and infection was already spread.)
(I will upload extra chapters according to the power stone received.)
...