Trials and Tribulations of the Oathkeeper

Chapter 18: The Stag Sedition

YEAR 299 AC

—At Dragonstone—

Nightfall descends upon the ancient island fortress of Dragonstone, where a red comet is seen shooting across the open skies. Standing upon the eponymous island bearing the same name in Blackwater Bay, Dragonstone was once the ancestral seat of the exiled House Targaryen. Due its advanced Valyrian design, the castle of Dragonstone was extremely difficult to breach and a small garrison stationed there could easily holds its own against a vastly larger force.

On the beaches, an old maester, Cressen, was seen running towards the center of the area holding a lit torch. As he arrived at his destination, an assembly of soldiers cladded in dark armor bearing the sigil of House Baratheon enclosed in a fiery red heart stood alongside their lord watching the religious idols of the Faith of the Seven burn. In front is a beautiful voluptuous woman with fiery red hair and red eyes, wearing red robes and a red gold choker with a large ruby around her neck. She was a priestess, but not of Westerosi origins; for her when she began chanting her accent was of Asshai from the Free Cities of Essos. To her followers, she was known as the red priestess Melisandre.

"Lord of Light, come to us in our darkness," she prayed. "We offer you these false Gods. Take them and cast your light upon us. For the night is dark and full of terrors."

"For the night is dark and full of terrors," the assembled knights said in unison.

The religion being preached was known as the faith of R'hllor or alternatively known as the Lord of Light, a deity widely worshipped in several of the Free Cities of Essos described as a "fire god". The Lord of Light is almost unheard of in Westeros; it was completely foreign to all but those who practiced the faith. Cressen reaches the group and hands his torch to another man, winded from his run.

"After the long summer, darkness will fall heavy on the world. Stars will bleed."

Cressen turns to first person standing beside him, Ser Davos Seaworth. Originally a poor commoner, Davos was a crabber's son and an infamous smuggler, often piloting his black-sailed ship into harbors in the dead of night and navigated through treacherous shallows. Davos eventually came into House Baratheon's service during Robert's Rebellion by sailing a small boat past the Tyrell blockade surrounding Storm's End through Shipbreaker Bay and smuggled a shipment of onions, beef, pork and salted fish to Lord Robert Baratheon's younger brother Stannis and his men, who were starving under siege by Lord Mace Tyrell and the Redwynes.

The food allowed Stannis's men to hold on until Lord Eddard Stark arrived to lift the siege. As a reward for this service, Stannis knighted Davos, giving him choice lands on Cape Wrath and allowing him to choose Seaworth as the name of his new house. However, also as a punishment for his years of criminal activity as a smuggler, Stannis personally 'shortened' Davos's left hand, cutting off the first joint from each finger of his left hand. Despite this, Davos found Stannis's ruling fair and just, and kept the bones of his severed fingertips in a pouch around his neck as a lucky charm.

"We need to stop her!" Cressen beseeched to Davos.

"Not now."

"...The cold breath of winter will freeze the seas," the red priestess continued, "and the dead shall rise in the North."

Cressen had enough and walked forward, interrupting Melisandre. "All you men were named in the light of the Seven! Is this how you treat the Gods of your fathers? Are you so eager to spit on your ancestors?"

After a long silence, Melisandre approaches Cressen and caresses his face. "You smell of fear," she spoke softly, "fear and piss and old bones. Do you want to stop me? Stop me."