Chapter 65: Ian's New Plan
"Quickly! Ser Aris has committed suicide by striking his head against the wall!" Ian's shout came from the cellar.
Soon, Ian's squire Keith and Ser Wilder's son, Ser Roger Wilder, came running down.
"What happened?" As soon as Roger entered the cellar, he first saw Ian crouching on the ground, then saw Ser Aris lying beside him.
Roger stepped forward quickly and brought the torch close to Aris's face. Only then did he discover there was a large bloody wound on Aris's forehead, and the ground beside him was completely stained red with blood.
"He's dead. He suddenly became agitated and struck his head against the wall," Ian stood up. "I tried to save him immediately, but he was too badly injured." Ian said, pointing to Aris's blood-soaked clothes. "I attempted to help him stop the bleeding, but I failed."
"Committed suicide by striking his head against the wall? We bound Aris's hands and feet when we captured him. How did he..." Roger said halfway through, and suddenly noticed the untied ropes next to the body. "Did you untie the ropes on him?" Ser Roger was suddenly somewhat angry.
"I was merely interrogating him, and your father knew about it," Ian said, feigning dismay. "But Ser Aris wouldn't cooperate. He demanded I untie the ropes binding him and treat him as a captive knight deserved."
"And you did that? Weren't you afraid he'd escape?"
"He doesn't even have a right hand! How could he possibly escape?" Ian, now appearing angry himself, raised his voice slightly to counter Ser Roger's tone. "I was simply trying to get him to confess more. How in the seven hells could anyone have imagined he'd commit suicide?"
"But..." Roger swallowed back a retort as it reached his lips. He knew full well that if this 'Ser Lucien' hadn't discovered the truth, once his father had begun implementing his plan, and Darry had bared its fangs from behind, they would all have been doomed.
"Forgive me, Ser Lucien. I lost my composure," Ser Roger apologized the next moment.
"It was my fault to begin with," Ian shook his head, indicating he didn't mind Roger's offense.
"So, what did you discover before Aris committed suicide?"
"A very, very terrible tale." Ian showed a grim smile.
"What?"
"I believe this matter needs to be reported to the Iron Throne, because Aris and his men are committing treason!"
"Treason? Isn't that rather extreme?" Ser Roger's mouth fell open. "Aren't they just bandits?"
"They plan to use the wealth plundered over the past months to form a company and sail to Pentos to surrender themselves to the Targaryen remnants."
"Just them? Do they intend to use such a small force to reclaim the Iron Throne?"
"Of course not. Just now, Aris revealed a very terrible secret under my questioning. Illyrio, the magister of Pentos, has arranged a marriage for the Targaryen remnants. They're going to wed the sister of the 'Beggar King' to the mightiest khal on the Dothraki Sea, and that khal has promised to help Viserys reclaim his throne."
"Seven Hells!"
"I don't know if what he said is true, but we must report it to the Iron Throne as soon as possible. A hundred thousand screaming Dothraki marching toward Pentos cannot be concealed. If His Grace can confirm this, then we can confirm the truth of what Aris just said."
"Don't the Whitewalls ghosts have another leader? The Ser Daeron Grafton that Simon previously identified. He must know quite a bit, correct? If we can capture him and force him to confess..."
"If it were you, would you confess to such treason? Aris committed suicide immediately after accidentally revealing the secret, fearing his house would be implicated in this matter," Ian said, fabricating an excuse to cover his lie.
Of course, Ser Aris couldn't have committed suicide; he was simply silenced by Ian.
Besides him, anyone else who knew that Ian Rivers, the illegitimate son of House Darry, didn't exist would be eliminated in the upcoming treason charges.
"Never mind. Where's your father? I need to discuss these important matters with him." Ian didn't dwell on the issue any further and asked Ser Roger.
"Father just had a dispute with Ser Beric Errol. Ser Beric is the captain of the first company of sellswords we recruited. They've been waiting here for a week for the Blackfyre treasure, and then..." Roger appeared somewhat frustrated.
"He can't accept that the Blackfyre treasure doesn't exist?" Ian quickly guessed the reason for Ser Wilder's argument with the sellswords.
"Yes!" Ser Roger nodded. "Ser Beric demanded he be paid based on the Blackfyre treasure's supposed value of ten thousand gold dragons. Later, the other sellsword cavalry who had no such ambitions also expressed their support for Ser Beric.
But the Blackfyre treasure doesn't exist at all. What we seized in the cellar of the abandoned fishing village were only those eight wagons of goods, including two wagons of fine wine, one wagon of quality furs, half a wagon of velvet, half a wagon of raw silk, and a pair of elk antlers."
"They want a thousand gold dragons. Is the total value of these goods even a thousand gold dragons?" Ian didn't wait for Roger to finish.
"No! Even if we shipped all this to a place where it's more valuable, we'd only get around five hundred gold dragons at most. If we sold it directly in King's Landing, we'd probably only get less than three hundred." Roger added, nearly on the verge of tears. "If there'd never been any mention of the 'Blackfyre treasure,' just giving us these few hundred gold dragons to share would have been a fortune."
"But once desires swell, it's hard to take them back. Ser Beric is no fool. He's probably just trying to extort a bit more coin. After all, if we follow the previous arrangement, each of them would only receive one or two gold dragons—not an insignificant sum, but a huge disappointment compared to what they expected." Ian shook his head.
"How about this? I'll go help mediate." Ian's next words delighted Ser Roger. This was actually his true purpose in coming to the cellar.
Unfortunately, Ian wasn't genuinely trying to mediate. His initiative was simply an attempt to fan the flames.
After all, Wilder's forces now held an overwhelming advantage over Ser Daeron Grafton's caravan, which was detrimental to Ian's new plan.
Not only does Ian not want Wilder and his men to capture Daeron Grafton, but he also wants to rescue him from the encirclement and gain his trust.
He intends to use the second son of House Grafton as a key instrument in establishing his new identity.
(End of Chapter)
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