Second Visit to Dorne (2)
"In the end her illness was really cured. Just one night after ingesting the first Penicillin her situation increased visibly to the naked eye. This fact even silenced all the doubters before.
House Martell is very thankful for the medicine you gifted to us and saved our beloved elder from leaving us."
Prince Doran even bowed down after finishing his explanation. He was truly grateful to Victor for allowing his mother to be alive while her only daughter got married.
The presence of Princess Dorne was not only important for Elia and her future status in King's Landing, but also for him personally.
The longer his mother was alive to suppress any elders of the family or even old nobles of Dorne that were not quite convinced with him yet, the more time he would have to better prepare himself to take over the ruling power of Dorne in the future.
Princess Dorne personally thanked Victor for his life saving grace shortly after but didn't really stay at the banquet because she still needed a lot of rest and really wanted to survive until she learnt of the news of her daughter's successful marriage.
Not much time was spent in Sunspear and Victor together with Oberyn left for their journey just two days later. Of course, he met up with his mother-in-law and Arianne Martell but there still was not much to talk about as his future wife was still a little child. Honestly everything about this was still extremely disturbing for Victor, but at least he still had ten years to slowly come to peace with this marriage.
When they both finally stepped on their ship and started a new journey both Oberyn and Victor were visibly relieved of many burdens. They found themself a comfortable place and talked about the next plans. Of course, Victor already knew where his first stop was going to be.
"This journey will be very important Oberyn, which means I want you to follow exactly what I tell you to do. This time we are not going to join any funny event or plan something interesting. The only reason for me to even get close to King's Landing currently is to plan a potential rescue of your sister in the future.
I expect no action of you that would endanger my safety at any point, is that clear?"
Only after Oberyn reluctantly nodded his head slightly did Victor continue with the next steps.
"We will first take a short break at Tarth. I heard that the wife of Lord Selwayn Tarth is going to give birth soon. I would like to take this opportunity to bring the relationship with the ruling House of Evenfall Hall in the Stormlands closer.
There is a chance that his wife will become ill after birth and Penicillin could be quite helpful in this situation. In the best case this medicine could help bring the relationship with House Tarth very close, which would be extremely helpful with our future. Even in the worst case we would show concern to a fellow noble and be able to show our friendly attitude.
This also means you need to refrain your attitude while we are on Tarth. If you destroy friendly relationships with House Tarth this will only make Elia's chance of rescue a lot lower in the future. Everything clear at this point?"
Oberyn reflected for a moment before responding.
"Well, you are betting that Lord Tarth's wife has complications during or shortly after labor and Penicillin can safe her. If not, you will probably use a good attitude and benefits to influence the opinion of House Tarth towards you. Nothing special as of yet."
While happily smiling Victor greatly appreciated Oberyn's observation and comprehension skills. When he got serious about something the Red Viper showed great skills.
"Well, we will only stay shortly at House Tarth and no matter what happens there, our next destination will be Duskendale. There we will leave our ships under the protection of at least 100 private soldiers and some of my closest guardians. I want to leave from there at any time possible. I even dispatched a few secret guards around Duskendale in order to spy on any information or attacks against those ships. Under no circumstances do I want to get trapped near King's Landing."
Duskendale is a large port town off the coast of Blackwater Bay. It is located northeast of King's Landing and Rosby in the crownlands. Formerly ruled by the Darklyns, it is now the seat of House Rykker. The castle of House Rykker that overlooks the port is the Dun Fort, a squat square stone castle with big drum towers. Duskendale is surrounded by strong walls which shimmer palely in predawn. Guardsmen wield spears and wear chain mail hauberks. The largest inn in Duskendale is the Seven Swords, across from which lives a skilled painter, the sister of the captain of the gatehouse. Duskendale contains multiple septs.
South of the town is a rocky headland that shelters the harbor from the storms of the narrow sea and north of it rise chalk cliffs. The Duskendale road runs northeast beside the shore between the grey-green sea and low limestone hills, and the ruins of the Hollard castle are found where the road forks to Crackclaw Point and Maidenpool. Fishing villages dot the road for miles. The Rosby Road connects King's Landing to Duskendale.
Once again Oberyn was surprised by the cautious behavior of his old friend. He could somehow understand not attending the wedding and staying away from the Mad King, but not even wanting to enter the port of King's Landing with his ships was already extremely cautious. But he didn't talk back on this topic, as it honestly didn't really matter to him personally. He stayed calm and continued to listen to Victor's plan. As there was no apparent relationship between House Di Natale and House Rykker, they would highly likely not stay at Duskendale all the time. He was already very curious where Victor intended to stay and which people he would want to meet during the journey towards the Crownlands.