ASOIAF/GOT: Minecraft in Essos.

~~~Barristan Selmy, Tenth Moon, 277 AC~~~

~~~Duskendale, Crownlands~~~

Reaching the town of Duskendale took us no more than three hours, being only a few miles from King's Landing, the journey was not that long. The city stood on a steep terrain surrounded by rocky promontories that protected it from the storms of the Narrow Sea, its high walls stretched out and glowed palely, even if the dawn had already passed.

There was a certain beauty in the city, with its streets near the gates full of merchants and fishermen, however, today he was not here to glimpse the beauty of the city, but to watch over the protection of the king, who had decided to visit the city to reach an agreement on the tax issue, and he could not be more against it.

It was not that I did not trust the king, in fact, in my years in the Guard, I had never seen him more lucid, he had even cut his nails and had been more attentive to his appearance, the royal marriage could not be in better condition than in years after the tragedy of Summerhall, if the nights full of passion were any indication.

One had to be very blind not to see the changes, the events that had made the kings he served, feel fuller. Starting with the queen at the time of ingesting the Xandarian potion, and now the king after the visit of the Jaesyrian king. And that pleased me, to know that the young, almost children I had known for years were becoming happy again, and I couldn't wait for things to stay that way.

But the gods were cruel, and would not agree to indulge this old man's fantasies, and strong winds laden with troubling news soon took hold. A possible Greyjoy rebellion, and now open rebellion with the lords of Duskendale. Couldn't the outlook be much worse?

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The southern gate of the city was opened for us the moment we reached the city, with the king and prince riding in front, with me on the king's right and Ser Gwayne on the prince's left, with the escort of ten men behind us, something that, while I had wanted Ser Arthur to accompany us as well, to witness more security, the king refused, so all I could get under his acceptance were the ten best guards of King's Landing.

Once past the gate, he led us to a marketplace, where Lord Denys Darklyn, the lord of Duskendale, was already waiting for us.

He was still young, perhaps barely past twenty names, and yet he was already treading a dangerous path for himself and his entire family if he continued with the initiative to defy the king, who, while calm, could be upset at any moment.

Nevertheless, his appearance did not look young, he had long tangled hair, a thick beard and a mustache over his dirty face and, if that was not enough, his gaze seemed tired and unfocused. I wanted to continue analyzing him, but a woman next to him caught my attention.

She was a very beautiful woman, with long straight black hair, green eyes, and brown skin, next to her, there was another man, and this one I recognized, Ser Symon Hollard, knight of the house Hollard and former master-at-arms of Dun Fort.

But besides the three of them, the others were what I thought were armed guards of the city, many to be precise, there were easily thirty divided everywhere, both on the balconies of the terraces and on the battlements of the walls, which made me put my hand on the pommel of my sword. Something about this did not sit well with me.

"Aerys, if I didn't like the situation before, then now I was furious. Had respect and fear of the crown fallen so low that a mere minor lord would disrespect the king? "You will mean respect to the king unless you want to lose your head," I said, drawing part of my sword from its sheath but not the sword all the way.

"Respect? I don't owe respect to someone who doesn't care about the state of his subjects, more than a few, Duskendale has been going through a bad situation for a few moons now, all thanks to the creation of that barbarian bank you let them make in your city, merchants no longer come to Duskendale, all eager to go to King's Landing with the luck of trading with the Essosi barbarians."

Lord Denys' outburst took us by surprise, it was well known that King's Landing had been receiving an increased amount of foreign merchants, lords, and travelers, even princes of Essos and archons, this was due to the branch of the Central Bank of Xandar, due to the remoteness of the Central Bank in Xandar, the branch in King's Landing earned the visit of many people eager to make loans or deposit their gold, due to the better treaties and payment formulas compared to the Iron Bank.

There was even a certain rate of increase in the gold that someone deposited, which meant that if someone deposited ten gold coins, after three moons they would have four more gold coins, due to the rate of increase. This made almost all lords and people of some wealth, rely on this and deposit their gold, which made King's Landing heavily visited, far surpassing towns like Duskendale, Rook's Rest, and Stokeworth.

But even if Lord Denys was right, this was not the way to ask for accretions for his city, "Barbarians, lousy situation for your city?!" This was the reason why it was a bad idea, the king exploded in anger and started to lash out at Lord Denys, who started to back away but was restrained by the woman next to him, holding him in place and saying things in his ear.

Whatever she had said to him, it incentivized him to do one of the most insane things I had ever witnessed in my life. "Guards, hold the king, don't let him leave the city!"

I immediately drew my sword, Ser Gwayne was the same, along with the escort, Prince Rhaegar also drew his sword, while bringing the king next to us, to protect him, "Denys, stop this madness, or your whole family will die!" The king wanted to measure the situation by asking Lord Denys to stop this whole circus, but Lord Denys did not stop, and with that, he sealed his fate.

"Anyone who stands between the gate and the king will meet my sword, if necessary, I will sow corpses on the way to it, so they will serve as food for the dogs!" I roared, I would give my life for the sake of allowing the king and the prince to go unharmed, but not before taking two dozen of them to my grave.

However, my warning had no effect. One of the guards took two steps forward, with an ugly grimace on his face. "I always wanted to duel a Royal Guard," he said, licking his lips, which only intensified my contempt for them. Believe me, you won't want to do it, any of you."

"No, I want to," and that's what triggered the fight, 'I'm sorry,' was all I said. Still, instead of the man approaching me, I noticed how one of the guards on the battlements shot an arrow, he may not have been in his prime. However, he was still one of the best Royal Guards, and with a simple motion, I maneuvered my sword into an arc that allowed me to parry the arrow with the blade of the sword.

The sound of the crash was heard, and soon, the King's escort surrounded him, protecting him from any stray arrows, as the market guards approached with their swords held high, "Idiots, don't shoot, don't kill the King or the Prince, I want them alive!" Amidst the cacophony of steel and the clanging of swords, I heard a female voice, but now I was intent on blazing a trail of blood and death just to get to the gate.

The guard who had said he wanted to fight with a royal guard advanced towards me, brandishing his sword with fury, but in the middle of a duel, especially in one of death like this, you had to control your emotions, because if you didn't, you were already losing, and he didn't know it.

I stepped aside when the guard swung his sword and blocked the attack with my sword, which made the blow bounce when it made contact with the steel, the blow did not cause me discomfort, an advantage of steel forged in a castle, on the other hand, the sword that the guard carried was not in optimal conditions, and that was demonstrated when I noticed how his arm trembled.

Taking advantage of the closeness the man proposed, I raised my arm and elbowed him in the face, splitting the bridge of his nose and causing his sight to blur with the involuntary tears that came from being hit in the nose, this caused the man to swing back and grab his bleeding nose with his left hand, but that was all I needed.

I swung my sword, and because the man had brought the sword down, he was unable to parry or deflect my blow, and with that, my sword severed the first head. Which fell to the ground with a thud, with the man's body moving erratically, only to fall backward, blood gushing from his neck like a fountain.

A second and third guard attacked me simultaneously the moment I killed the first. But I was prepared, in quick movements, I blocked the attacks of the first, and being faster than him, I kicked him in the knee, breaking it and forcing him to fall, and without wasting time, I stabbed him in the chest.

I drew my sword from his chest to block the attack of the other guard, who thought to take me by surprise, but while he continued to put force on his sword, I swung it to make him almost fall on his face, and putting my foot to make him fall, I managed to knock him down, to stab him in the back of the neck with my sword.

I had already slain three guards, but there were more than twenty left, and as much as I relied on my gifts with the sword, it was imperative to get to the door. "Quick, go and secure the gate, don't let them close it!" I shouted giving orders, no matter how much I killed everyone, a surprise arrow could still manage to kill me, now my hopes were in allowing at least the king and prince to get out.

I just hoped this would not end in further tragedy.