Chapter 59: Confusion

[ Arianne Martell ]

There were a lot of things that she was, Princess of Dorne, possibly the successor of this place too. But she was sure that there was one thing she wasn't and that was… free… 

Arianne considered herself a caged bird, true her 'owners' were nice and gave her everything. But at the end of the day, she was but a bird. Her father would never allow her to be anything more than that.

Doran Martell was many things, but a good father he wasn't. Flaunting many men twice or more her age, willing to sell her like a common whore if it benefited the family.

Recently though, one of her cousins, Obara Sand, had told her that her father had captured someone from House Redhawk, some servant. The details weren't clear, but the Lord of House Redhawk will be coming, possibly? Since many rumors were going around, the situation was very unclear and there might be no prisoner at all.

Still, as Arianne walked along the halls of the castle, she felt a sense of elation blossom in her.

She went to her father's office and entered without knocking. Once inside, Doran looked at his daughter and his eyes narrowed, an unknown feeling rising inside of him.

"Father, I heard that you captured some prisoners from the Redhawks." She said, full of confidence, "Is it true?"

"Yes," he answered simply, "Though I would advise that you shouldn't go outside for some time. The rumors that have been spreading around about you aren't nice, I know they aren't true… yet. But still, you must keep your maidenhood intact."

"So what?!" She asked in anger, "Just so I can give it to some old man?! That will never happen, father!"

With that declaration, she walked off, but not before two guards grabbed her. "Let me go!" She yelled, but the men didn't bother and nodded in acknowledgment towards Doran who looked like he had aged a whole decade in the last couple of days.

"Arianne, you must stay in the tower. If this Oliver is anything like his father, you will be one of his targets. Don't sneak out or anything of the like, and I am not telling this to exert control over you, but the reality is cruel and if you were to be captured, only the worst kind of things will happen to you until I release Davos." Explained Doran, before silently gesturing to the guards to take her away.

Arianne gave up on her plans to undermine her father, at least for a time, because once she saw the look on his face, she knew that something had happened. Something that had terrified her father. The last time he had looked like that was when news had come to Drone about Elia's rape and her children's deaths.

'Well, I guess spending so much time in a tower… well, it could be worse and a couple of months up there wouldn't be anything special.' She thought as the guards suddenly changed direction, not towards her tower, her heartbeat fastened once she saw that.

"Where are you taking me?"

The guards didn't answer and just dragged her away, this time a little forcefully, something that no guard would do since it would get their head cut off if they acted like that. 

"Who are you?" She asked, now a little desperation slipping out.

"We are no one," said one of the guards, his voice creepily emotionless and not an ounce of worry in it. As if trying to take the princess of Dorne away was nothing special.

This caused her to panic even more as she looked at their faces and saw that both of these men were people that she had seen close to her father countless times.

Suddenly one of the men pulled out a knife and sneakily pointed it at her midsection. 

"If you try and cream, your guts will splatter on the ground." He said, his voice making it not at all sound like a threat, but simply as if he was stating a fact.

...

As they got further and further away from the main places on the castle, no guard seemed to approach them, and the ones who did only nodded while going back to distract the other guards.

"Who sent you guys?" She asked, "Please, at least tell me this much."

One of the guards, the one without the emotionless voice, looked at her with a pitying look. "Sorry Princess Arianne, but your father can't handle a princess who continues to act like a cheap-… well, you know.

As a princess, you can't just go around and try to get guys who would take your chastity. Sadly for you, no one would be willing to go against Prince Doran, and you must be killed-"

"Oy, don't say anymore," intervened the man with the cold voice, "You want to get yourself killed or something?"

...

[ Davos ]

Staying in a cell wasn't an unfamiliar thing to the now Ser Davos. But he didn't like the cells, at least normally he wouldn't like such things. But in Dorne, he was staying in a luxury room, with a giant bed and fine silk all around. If it wasn't for the guards outside who wouldn't let him go out, he would consider this a vacation.

But even then, there was this thing that kept bothering him. 'Why would Lord Oliver put him in this situation?' He should have known how Doran would react, and whatever was in that letter made the man nervous.

Something that made a Lord Paramount nervous? Davos wondered what that could be. After all, it had something to do with the kind? Possibly? Maybe treason? Well, the onion knight was glad that he wasn't in charge of thinking about things like this because he would die of old age before he figured out the highborn's schemes.

He planned to live a life of leisure for a couple of years after this if Lord Oliver allowed it of course. Because Davos knew that the young man had the same problems as his father, Arthur had at his time. Gold can only buy a man's loyalty for a time, but the same gold can be used to buy it for another.

It wasn't like Oliver had no men other than Davos whom he could trust, there were others, but they could all be counted in one hand.

After all, who would spend almost a full month on the sea and be filled with boredom but not read the letter that Davos had been entrusted with? 

Yeah, Davos had the trust of both lords he had served and he knew that. For a former smuggler, that was a LOT of trust for someone to put on him. But he always did every day he was given to his full capabilities.

*Slam!* The door was forcefully opened and this caused Davos to immediately get out of bed and pick up a fruit knife that he had close by. Not like something like that could stop a sword, but any weapon was better than none.

Two guards wearing Dornish outfits looked at Davos and nodded, pointing outside where the guards who were guarding him previously were laying in a pool of blood.

"What's going on here?" asked Davos, worrying that the guards were about to kill him.

But unexpectedly one of the men looked at him with a horrified look.

"We don't know man, Princess Arianna is missing and Prince Doran has the whole of Sunspear in lockdown. Our orders were to take you to a safe house."

Davos was confused, "Who is giving the orders?"

"Lord Arthur? I think… we have no idea, but someone is using his network, we all have a job to do and this guy," he pointed at the guard next to him.

"I just learned that he was a spy too. We have no idea who is who."

"Whatever, just take me out of here before Prince Doran decides that my head shouldn't be attached to my neck." Davos shivered as he felt that something was going on here. 

...

Amongst the chaos, Davos was able to slip through till he was in a safe house in the outskirts of the city of Sunspear.

Then the men turned to leave, when suddenly two normally clothed men came and stabbed them in the back, after that, one of the men who killed the guards also killed the other man. 

The only person left then nodded at Davos as if it meant something. "The job is done now."

Davos was more confused than ever, and the man gave him a razor.

"Shave your head and beard." After saying that, the man ran off. But right as he walked outside, a crossbow bolt hit him in the neck and he fell down, dead.

===================

Now no one in Sunspear knows where Davos is… and Arianne is missing too. 

PS : Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

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