After they arrived in Kingslanding they had one night of good rest. One. Because of course his sister had to ruin the peace. They were in the middle of dinner,the Strongs once again invited over by Viserys. Daemon wondered if this is going to become a common occurrence. There were valid reasons for it of course, Lord Strong was informing Viserys and Daemon about what had been done in their absence, his sister and the younger generation were discussing what he supposed was gossip. There was some idle gossip, but at the same time it wasn't, not really, it seemed more as a transaction based on information. Maenera, telling them about the North and they reciprocate with the comings and goings of the Red Keep. The younger son of Lord Strong seemed particularly well informed. He was half listening into their conversation and found out that Rhaenys and Corlys had a fight, then Laena and Corlys as well, a maid fell pregnant with a second son of House Florent, two knights from the Riverlands got into a fight and his Gold Cloaks had to intervene, and the youngest son of Otto Hightower was still lingering in Kingslanding.
On the other side of the conversation Lord Strong informed Viserys that the ladies Daemon sent letters to, responded and some were already on their way, Lady Celtigar being only a day or two away from arriving. The men offered positions on the small council also responded affirmative, even the Dornish. Daemon was surprised about that one, he expected some resistance, maybe it was curiosity on their part, that made them want to accept. Anyhow he was confident that his sister would not let danger in their home. Lord Strong was urging him to find a replacement for the role of Captain of the City Watch until Lord Tyrell arrived, some of his soldiers began to be unruly. It seemed like a visit to the barracks was in order, he wouldn't have the City Watch descent into chaos again, he needed to put the fear of Caraxes into them. Coming back to his sister it seemed like she had a plan for tonight, as usual some kind of disturbance that would make Daemon giddy and Viserys wanting to rip his hair off. Daemon didn't mind per se, but what was a bit worrying was the subject this sister disturbed the peace with.
"I promised that when I get back the lessons will begin. Tonight will be the first one." His sister said.
"What are we to do first, Princess?" Larys curiously asked. Daemon could see that the man was excited. Even Lord Strong and his brother stopped their conversation and were now listening to his sister.
"Well first, I would of course like permission from Lord Strong to take you out of the keep." She said looking at Lord Strong.
"My son is a grown man, princess he can make his own decisions." Responded the man.
"Yes, but I was mostly asking for little Alys." At that the man began to look hesitant. " Both her brothers will be with her and so would Daemon. She will be safe."
"I will?" Daemon asked stupidity.
"Yes." She responded and the man still looked hesitant, but agreed. Having both Larys and Harwin seemed to do the trick.
"We are going into the city?" Daemon asked.
"Yes and no. We need something from the city and then we are going into the Kingswood. We should be back by morning. "
"The Kingswood?"asked Larys.
"Of course, you have the blood of the First Men, your magic will be stronger if you base it on nature. The old trees, the hard ground, the wild animals." Responded Maenera.
"What about yours Princess?" Asked Harwin. Daemon was curious as well.
"It is a bit complicated, I have both the blood of the First Men and that of Old Valyria. I feel well in nature, but it feels more comfortable for me if I am surrounded by fire or in the air. Dragonstone is a good place for me." She answered. That made sense in Daemons opinion. Even with her mother's Stark heritage she was still a dragon.
"What about water? You didn't talked about that." Said little Alys and to his surprise she was correct. Maenera didn't mentioned anything about water, not even a river in the woods. Those Strongs were surprisingly intuitive.
"Never felt an affinity for it. Never met someone who had one either. I have a theory that the Rhoynar have one, but it is just a theory. There are some writings about the water mages, followers of Mother Rhoyne, but it has been so long ago that the writings may be wrong and or flourished. From what I have seen most magicks done are form nature and fire. The wood witches are a good example, they draw their power from the nature that is why most of them live in isolation in the woods. The followers of R'hllor, the red witches are taking their power from fire. Beyond the wall wargs and skin changers take their power from the wild animals they are bonding with. " She explained.
It made sense, her explanations. It made him feel a bit stupid with the amount of knowledge she had on the subject. He was never interested in the magicks, not even that of his own house. The only thing that he perfected was his bond with his dragon. He made an effort do bond extremely well with Caraxes. They could understand each other without any commands given, their moods sometimes transferring from one another. Daemon had never been interested in dreams and spells. He had a healthy dose of respect for them, but didn't put much stock in it.
His sister also seemed to be a good teacher. The way she captivated the room with her explanation seemed to be a gift. Maenera was an amazing orator. Not for the first time he realized that when she spoke people listened. Being in the council meetings or at the dinner table giving lessons on magicks, she could captivate her audience and could get her point across with ease. Daemon was once again amazed.
"So with that out of the way, how do you feel about kidnapping?" Maenera asked.
Lord Strong seemed alarmed and Viserys looked like he wanted to bang his head on the table. Daemon in the other hand began smiling. This was going to be interesting.
***
After dinner, only the ones leaving for the city, remained at the table. His sister was kind enough to say who were they kidnapping. A Dornish knight it seemed. They talked about him before, Ser Criston Cole. Daemon remembered him from the Heir Tourney, they didn't faced each other as Daemon left as soon as his he saw his brother leaving, but he remembered him as a good fighter. He didn't know why they were kidnapping him and what his sister intended to do with him, but he had a vague idea that it will not end well for Ser Criston. The last time Maenera and Daemon had gone into the city together they killed Mysaria. He was sensing a theme here.
"So what are we going to do?" Asked Daemon.
"Cole usually spends his nights at a tavern, in Fleabottom. We use the the easiest way to get a knight from a grup. A scared child looking for her mother." His sister responded.
"Wait. We are going to use Alys as bait?" Asked Harwin suddenly worried.
"Yes, do not worry ser Harwin we will be close. Nothing will happen to her. After he gets out of the tavern smack him on the head with the flat of your sword."
"All right. Let's say this works. What are we going to do with him after?" Larys said.
"We carry him to the woods. And by we, I mean Ser Harwin and my dear brother Daemon." She said and began smiling at us.
"Why do Harwin and I need to carry him? Do you know how long it takes to get to the woods?" Daemon exclaimed.
"You cannot imply that me and Alys should carry him." She said in a mock outrage." And Larys has problems with his leg, are you such a cruel man that you would make a sick man carry another?"
"Yes, my sisters always tell me that we ladies should not preoccupe ourselves with hard labor." Said the little girl." And Harwin always helps Larys with his physical tasks, it is only right." She continued. Larys was snickering, and by the looks of it he and Harwin were outnumbered in this situation. He understood Viserys now. Little siblings were a menace.
**"
Well the plan worked fucking perfectly. And here they were, dragging an unconscious fucking knight into the fucking woods. Daemon was pissed. His sister and her little accomplices were strutting in front of them like they owned the fucking world, while he and Harwin were trying to carry Cole through the dark, uneven and frightening forest. Who knew that forests were so frightening during the night. And why were there so many birds here. Daemon really needed to rethink his life choices. Since when he became incapable of saying no to a woman. Admittedly that woman was his sister whom he loved and intended to marry, but still. This wasn't fair, what was he? A fucking mule?
"Are we there yet?" Daemon asked.
"As I told you three times before Daemon, we are almost there." His sister replied.
"You said that we were almost there twenty minutes ago."
"And we are. There, see those trees, we make past them and there will be a clearing."
"Oh thank all the Gods." Harwin said. Daemon understood his plight. They weren't small or weak men by any means but dragging a body through the city and the forest was taking its toll.
When they finally arrived at the clearing, both Daemon and Harwin dropped Cole to the ground like he was a hot pocker. The man seemed to hit his head again on some rocks, but Daemon was beyond caring at this point. He wanted this over with.
His sister didn't wasted any time. She quickly took some black candles rom her bag and began lighting them. Inscribed on the side of the candles were some kind of runes he didn't recognize, they seemed familiar however. She took out a dagger which he recognized as being his brother's. Maenera seemed to purposely forget to give it back. She approached Cole and as fast as he could blink the dagger was now plunged into his heart, the candles flared slightly. Well that was fucking unexpected. Daemon had a vague idea that the man was not long for this world but he didn't expect his sister to do the deed. He honestly believed that that was why he was there, to execute the knight.
"Nobody said anything about murder." Ser Harwin said.
"More like sacrifice." His sister replied.
She began now to gater some wood and make it to a pile, all of them standing confused to the side. She made a small fire and sat down in front of it. That's it. She wasn't doing anything else. She was even looking expecting at them. Were they supposed to do something?
"What are you all doing there standing like a grup of hens? Come by the fire and sit down." They did that. Now they were the ones that looked at her expecting to begin talking.
"First lesson is that all magic has consequences." She began explaining." One type of magic in particular. That one you will not learn how to do from me. Sacrificial magic. As the name says is exchanging the life of one person for another."
"Why aren't you going to teach us that?" Asked Larys.
"A variety of reasons. Contrary to what the septons say not all life is equal in the eyes of the gods. If you begin a sacrifice and the payment is not enough, the magicks will seek payment. You could try to save the life of your sister and offer as payment a servant, if that is not enough, the magicks may take your brother or father or your first born." Maenera explained." Second lesson is that magic doesn't have a time limit. You could cast a spell that can take effect after generations, with the payments are the same. You may think that the servant was enough, but it wasn't, so one day your children start dying, or your grandchildren, or great grandchildren. Magic is timeless that is why the power we are wielding needs to be respected."
"It's sacrificial magic that simple? You just list some candles and then killed Cole." Said ser Harwin.
"No, while the candles and the killing are important, they are only a step in the process."
"So what we saw was practically useless" said Larys.
"Not exactly. Tell me what was that you observed? What was different than a normal death?"
"He was killed in the woods." Answered Harwin.
"The candles flared." Alys said.
"There was a tension in the air. Like a suffocating blanket, just for a moment." Daemon gave his answer.
"All of those are correct. Go and inspect the body, see if you can discover something." She said and all of them got up and formed a circle around the late Ser Criston. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first sight. Just a body with a stab wound.
"Can we touch it?" Asked Daemon.
"Yes, the magic is done, he is just a corpse now."
Daemon wasn't scared of dead bodies, he'd seen his fair share so he knelt and began turning the knights head Tom left to right trying to discover something. And there it was a white strake mashed in between Cole's black curls. He could bet that it wasn't there before. He began inspecting his hand and chest. He riped the shirt and right above the stab wound in his chest there was a rune. A small one, a marking. Seemed more like a brand if he was honest, it looked burned into the skin, but the specific smell of burned skin was absent.
"The white hair and the brand on his chest." Said Daemon and looked at his sister for approval. She looked proud.
"You are right, these are signs of sacrificial magic. Memorize the brand. That one is mine. Each magic user has his own simbol."
"I still do not understand why you are showing us this, if you are not going to teach us how to do it." Said Larys.
"So we can recognize it. Isn't that right?" Harwin asked. As he said those Strongs were surprisingly intuitive.
"Yes, if you find a body with those signs, but the simbol on them is not mine, run the other way. There is someone who is playing with powerful magicks. As soon as you are far enough you send for me. It doesn't matter where you are. In Kingslanding, in the Riverlands, the fucking Naath, you send word and I will come for you."
"But why?"
"Because as I said it is powerful magic. The magic in itself is not bad or good, but the intent behind it can alter that. Sacrifices had been done for long time, some of them being done by stupid children that have no idea what they are really doing. I do not want you to get caught in a spell with unclear intent. A powerful child my wish for the bad man to die, so he sacrificed someone for it. But the intent is not clear, what bad man? There are a lot of bad men in the world, what makes a bad man bad? He could be another Lord Bolton or a knight who was rough in training with the squires. I tell you to run the other way because the spell may claim you by mistake."
"Did it happen before?" Asked Larys.
"Of course it happened before, that is why I am telling you about it."
"Did it happen to you before?" Asked little Alys. His sister did not respond. Daemon will have to ask what really happened with her mother.
"Now you know about it, you know that is powerful, you know how to recognize it and more importantly you know to stay far away from it. Let's go back to the Red Keep." She said and began walking away. She extinguished the fire, took her bag and began trekking back.
"Aren't we going to do anything about the body?" Asked ser Harwin.
"Don't worry about it. Shrykos will come for it." She responded. Daemon. Left the siblings behind and got in step with Maenera. There was a pressing question that needed asking.
"What did you do the sacrifice for?" She didn't answer, she just looked at him.