28 Sending Her Off

After the Tyrion and Tysha both consoled each other, they both set to packing away her personal effects for Tysha to take with her. As they were doing this, Monty came into the room, "Cerion, Marden and the others from Lannisport are nearly here, we can see the lights down the road." He tells me, I nod my head and turn to face my guards, "I want full discretion on what happened here, no one is to know, do you all understand?." The guards all nod at my question, "If someone is trying to offer you gold or status in order to find out what happened here then I want you to think of all that I have done for you, and I also want you to think of the future, standing by my side loyally will benefit you more than a small sack of gold or a meaningless title." I tell them as I stare at them in the eyes one-by-one.

The smaller number of people who know of Tysha means that the chances of my father learning about her is smaller as well. The guards around me are the ones I trust the most, hence why I have then follow me all the time, and whilst I trust the others to protect me as well, they are too numerous to know individually and get a read on what they're like. I might also have to send someone to silence the innkeep as well.

I turn back into the cottage, "Tysha." I say, "Wear a shawl or anything that you can use to cover up your face, it would be better if no one saw you." Tysha gives an understanding nod at my request and formulates an improvised hood out of the bed sheets. If my father was to find out about Tysha then it's important we lessen the exposure of her face to others to make sure no one puts a face to the name.

As the sound of horses and men get closer, I ask Monty, "How much gold do you have on you?", he shows a bewildered expression at my question. "About a handful of dragons, why?" Monty replies, "I want you to go back to that Inn we just came from and pay off the innkeep, just give him all you've got on you, I'll pay you back when we're at the rock. Once you've finished that then just head back to the Rock and tell Alysanne of what happened here. It might be best if you wait until the the fresh horses from the Rock come back so you can change." I tell him, Monty sighs and starts counting out the coins in his pouch.

Tyrion and Tysha exit their cottage not long after, the latter disguised with a hood of cloth. They both mount Tyrion's horse despite the fact that his saddle wasn't built with enough room to seat two and we all follow suit as well and set off down the road towards Lannisport.

It was only a few minutes after we took off that we came across Marden and the rest of the guards. "My Lord." Marden said atop his horse, bowing his head towards me, "Marden" I say, "I am sorry for this inconvenience tonight."

"Think nothing of it my Lord, We are your men and sworn to do whatever it is you ask." Marden replies, "I do not wish to overstep my boundaries, but have you found what you were looking for my Lord?" He asks as his eyes focused on Tyrion and then on Tysha, who was still wearing her hood.

"You needn't worry yourself Marden, you and the rest of the men can head back to the barracks, everything has been sorted out." I tell him, trying to draw his attention away from Tysha. Marden had spent many years as a guard for my father, it would be naïve on my part to assume he is more loyal to me than Tywin after several months of being with me.

Marden shifts his attention back to me, "Of course, my Lord, as you command." He bows a little and turns around, preparing the rest of the men ready to march back to Lannisport. We navigate around the stream of soldiers carefully and break through to the other side, giving us a clear road on which to ride on towards the city.

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Entering Lannisport was easy, none of the City Watch on duty bothered us when they noticed Tyrion and I, weren't worth bothering either of us just to get reprimanded by their superior. Getting Tysha out of the city and Westeros in general shouldn't be that hard either, using the contacts I have formed from gaining ownership of all those businesses. A merchant or trader wouldn't mind a small bit of excess cargo for a good pay.

"What should we do now?" Tyrion asked from the horse beside me, I look at him, "We'll make a stop first, get a change of clothes to fit in more and some supplies for Tysha." I answer back. We were quite conspicuous in what we were wearing, the Lannister gold and crimson was quite eye-catching even if it was the middle of the night.

The place that I had in mind was a small textile factory near the harbour, whilst there would be clothes available for us, there was another thing Tysha needed, gold. The money made from all the businesses was quite a large sum, most of that is then invested back into the business, but I keep a percentage for myself and my projects. Shipping all that gold to Casterly Rock from multiple businesses is quite noticeable and risky, so I keep most of it inside the businesses or the barracks. I wish to give Tysha enough gold so she can live a comfortable life in a large house in Pentos or Braavos. She might squander it all but at the end of the day it is her money after I give it to her.

It didn't take us long to get there, the factory was just off one of the main roads leading towards the harbour. It had a small exterior, complete with dark wooden beams and greyish walls. Due to its close proximity to the main road, several members of the City Watch patrol up and down every now and again. Gaining entry might've proven difficult due to the fact that it was the early hours of the morning, however, some of the former slaves live within the factory upstairs and so the building is almost never empty.

The inside was larger than one would expect, more narrow than wide but still spacious. A few workers here and there looked at the door, but returned back to what they were doing when they recognised me. I led Tyrion and Tysha, as well as a couple of guards over to a chest full of clothing for them to disguise themselves, I didn't have Orton dress up as he is quite hard to miss with that stature of his.

While they were doing that, I grabbed a large box and headed downstairs into the basement. Opening one of the floorboards on the right side of the room revealed a large, metal lockbox. All lockbox's like this one cost a small fortune to buy, having to change every lock for one key to fit, a key that I keep on my body at all times. It was a risk doing that, but I found it more efficient than searching through a ring loaded with different keys.

The chest itself was heavy, but still manageable for me to lift it up out of the hole. Placing the key into the keyhole, I turn it counter clock-wise until I hear the sound of a click. The chest itself was filled to the brim with Gold dragons as well as other material goods, lighter than the combined weight of gold if it was sold, making it easier to carry. I fill up the box I had taken with me with Dragons and create a stockpile of expensive jewellery that Tysha can carry on her person. I wasn't sure how much I took but the worth of it all must've amounted to the thousand mark.

I head back upstairs, hauling the box over both arms and carefully lay it down in front of Tysha, who looks surprised at my sudden appearance, "Here." I say, "Put these on." gesturing to rings, bracelets and other accessories. Tysha, stumped at what I said, asks" Uh... pardon?".

"Put them on." I tell her, "You can sell them for money if you are ever running out." I gesture to the large box of gold. "It's too much, I can't take it." She says, I sigh at her declaration, "With all this, you won't have to work again." I explain to her, still seeing that she won't budge, I try a different approach, "If you aren't going to do it for yourself, then do it for Tyrion. I know he'll be worrying about you and accepting this money can assuage those thoughts." She is silent for a moment "...Okay, I'll accept it, thank you." she tells me, I just smile at her in return.

Seeing that pretty much everyone was ready, I decided it was time to leave. The harbour was only down the road and we got there pretty quick despite the cargo we had with us, the gold that is.

From there, we had to find a ship with a room bound for Essos, Braavos was probably the best place to go, or Myr. We came across quite a few sailors getting ready to leave, going to places like Lys, Volantis and even Qarth. Ships to Braavos were rare as it was a long voyage to the north of Essos.

"Where are you headed?" I ask a man looking at cargo being hauled onto a ship, the man in question turns to face me, "What's it to you?" He replies in a gruff voice, looking at all of us.

"I'm looking for a voyage headed for Braavos." I reply, the man looks back at me when I said that. "Well, your in luck." the man tells me, "We're also heading there, Honeyed-wine is in high demand there at the moment."

"When do you leave." I ask him, he tilts his head to the side, "As soon as we get all this loaded onto the ship, we've already been in this city for too long. Why are you asking me all this?"

"I need a room for one of my friends here." I gesture behind me, "Do you have one?". The man nods his head, "Aye, we got one. Though it's gonna cost you quite a pretty penny."

"That's fine" I pull out a large pouch from my side, more than enough gold for the voyage. "I have request for you to do, for the rest of that gold." I inform him, "I want you to escort my friend here to the Iron Bank, just to carry their valuables and protect them from any harm, that's all I'm asking."

The man hesitates in replying, looking at the pouch in my hand, "Aye, me and my boys can do that." I nod and pull out a couple Dragons from the pouch, "You'll receive this now and the rest once you've dropped them off at the bank. Don't try anything else, do you understand." I lift my hood up slightly, exposing my face.

"O-Of course, Milord." The men tells me, shocked at finding out who I am. "Good." I reply, "I'll know if you do, and don't mention me to anyone if you know what's good for you." I finish off, the captain nods his head and sets off towards his ship with two of my guards in tow, carrying the large box of gold.

I turn back towards Tysha, "When you reach the Iron Bank, open up an account and store all your gold, keeping all of it on you is too risky in a city like Braavos." I tell her. Tysha hugs me, "Thank you, for everything." I hug her back and we break apart after a few seconds as Tysha says her goodbyes to Tyrion.

After a couple minutes of heart-felt goodbyes, Tysha is ushered onto the ship by one of the sailors a couple minutes before the ship is cast off from the docks. I place my hand on Tyrion's shoulder as tears fall from his eyes.

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A/N: I still haven't come up with a name for Cerion's guard yet and just calling them 'guards' is getting repetitive. Any suggestions for what their name should be then comment below.