NOVEL NEXT Chapter 45: Interlude: W$a#t#c%h=e/r#%s
"Our minds are constantly filling us with… thoughts, memories, reflections…" Ned mused, "But when I'm here, I listen to the leaves' gentle rustling… I gaze at the slow swaying of the branches… and then…" he trailed off as he gazed at him.
"Tell me of a wondrous sight then," whispered Nalia.
"A Dragon," whispered Tyrion, his smile childish.
"Stow the upper deck! Joffrey, ready that rope!" shouted Nakaro.
"The Masters of their Fate," mused Shah.
"A Broken Knight does not run from his fate!" shouted a half-naked, red faced Jon as him and Tyrion ran down the steps of the Inn as fast as they could, screams of pursuit behind them.
"It is not as common a pastime as you may think, but you may like it nonetheless," said hairy Art as he handed him a basic set of bone carving tools.
"A weapon of a dying age" said dark robed Liosh as he gazed at the spent Fire Spear held between his palms, "Clever tricks and mechanisms, an obsolete weapon after the gifts of the Red Comet…" he muttered as he dropped the spear and shattered it.
"May it serve as a reminder. When you sit upon that Throne, remember which metal came first… Copper, not Iron," said Archmaester Perestan, gazing at the scepter and beyond.
"STILL WE STAND!" roared the Colonel Jin, his lungs strong despite his emaciated form.
"You have good judgment and a capacity to hear others and actually learn. I've been sailing with the Captain for years and I know for a fact he's a good judge of character… If he thinks you'll make a fine captain, I'll believe him," he said as the Eastern Winds soared through the waves.
"Please stop!!! What did I ever do to you?!" cried Petyr in agony as his flesh was sculpted in thoughtful torment.
"But… I can still see it… how?!" Benerro said in despair as he leaned closer to the flames, "I see your fate young Joffrey! A great wedding and a mean mind, a purpled face and an accusing mother, a trial for an Imp and a burial for a King, the seeds you planted blooming in the fields of war and death and destruction…" Benerro roared as the flames consumed his face.
"I like the new you!" smiled Myrcella, before giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Think of your men Colonel, think of Shah, Hu, Sabu and all the rest, think of all the people under your responsibility… they'll all be dead within the week. You know this…" Jhos said as he took a deep breath, centering himself before taking off a large, silver medallion inscribed with arcane runes and leaving it to his side. "Give that to High Moon Vhenzi back at the Dawn Fort… tell him I did not falter," he said as Joffrey readied the ritual dagger.
"I'm not going to let you kill yourself over a damned sword!" roared the Hound.
"Ah, it's been known to have that effect on people. 'Man in the Sea of Despair', they call it. Legends used to say the whole room was covered in more carvings and symbols," said Archmaester Guyne, thoughtful.
Varham smiled as tombs rattled and wights shrieked, "The Cycle begins anew young soldier… driven by forces far, far beyond the ken of mortal understanding… they come at last, to repeat once again their ancient duty… like they always have, like they always will…" he whispered as the ground itself shook, as the time of Destruction was upon them.
"You have to learn and find a deep respect for yourself. Not a kind of arrogance, but an understanding that you are who you are, and that only you have the means to change yourself," Said Ned with a serene if fatherly smile.
"But, Joffrey… What is a different song if not a sequence of changed keys?" Sansa asked him, her keen, vivid blue eyes boring into his own.
-.PD.-