Chapter 105: 105- [Interlude] Test with no return.
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~~~Cersei Lannister, Eighth Moon, 277 AC~~~
~~~Lannisport, Westerland~~~
"Come on, it won't be a problem," I told my friends and expedition companions. We were currently in Lannisport, we had traveled in the company of Lady Janna to prepare everything for the Xandarian Royal Fleet, which was a few days away from arriving, and the docks needed to be kept clear of ships for it. The Royal Fleet ships were much larger than the merchant ships she had been seeing offshore.
"Lady Janna will give me permission, and you guys can come with me, think about it, we will know what our future will be." I said to my two 'friends', Jeyne Farman and Melara Hetherspoon, with whom I was on our visit to the city. "But Cersei, that woman is a witch, what if she casts a spell on us or something?" Jeyne, as cowardly as I had always remembered her, began to chicken out, even before she decided to go.
"Don't be stupid, what will she be able to do to us, are you forgetting that I am Lord Tywin's daughter? If that woman decides to do anything to us, my father will be the least of her worries," I commented, and Lady Janna's face came to mind, I had been training a few moons ago with the woman, and her teachings had appealed to me. At first, I had seen something like that far beneath a lady, but after feeling those muscles with strange names appear on my back and the security my practice had given me. I began to love the women's workouts.
Feeling the coldness of my dagger hidden between my dress, I noticed how the girls went numb at my father's name, and I couldn't help but smile with derision, weak, they were all two such weak women, 'how had I not seen it before?'
"Okay, but at the first sign of danger, we turn back, okay?" Melara spoke in a hurried voice as if she was afraid of regretting it.
Without wasting any more time, we started walking through the streets of Lannisport, and that was a challenge, while people would turn away when they saw us, that didn't make the walk any faster, partly due to the large number of people that had been arriving in the city, people from all over the kingdom were arriving day and night.
Since my father's wedding was announced, thousands of nobles from both large and small houses had arrived without fail, even the royal family had arrived. And with that, security had also increased, which is why, though I didn't want to at first, it fell to us to come with guards, being on this occasion, a man-at-arms of my father's and a personal guard of Lady Janna's.
"I think that's the one," Melara spoke suddenly, causing me to look where she pointed, and there it was, a blackish-green hut, with a high, pointed roof, the damn thing was horrible, and I couldn't think how anyone would decide to live in such a creepy, unwelcoming place. But what could one expect from Essos witches?
"Let's go in," I said suddenly, catching the two girls off guard, 'already?' Jeyne asked fearfully, 'yes, right now,' and I started to approach the ugly place without thinking. But when I saw that the two men following us wanted to come in with us, I stopped them; "stay outside, if I need you, I'll call you."
My father's man wanted to argue against it, which I stopped with a scathing look, on the other hand, Lady Janna's guard only nodded and stood guard, even in that the Xandarians were better, they knew how to obey orders without grumbling.
The interior of the campaign was even worse than I first thought, there were several vials on rotting tables, which contained dark substances and I even thought I saw a finger in one.
But the woman... The witch was something much uglier than the vials she had in her hut, chubby and very overweight, something that caused that at the slightest movement, her fat swayed from side to side, which made her look as if she were a canteen, her warty and sickly skin, along with her yellow and crusty eyes, made her a challenge to look at, but I was a lioness, and I would not leave without knowing my future.
"No, I can't, I can't Cersei, I'm sorry," Jeyne said quickly, then ran out of the hut without even giving me time to call out to her. "Damn coward, let her wait until I'm done here and she'll see." I said angrily, they were all cowards, "don't even think about running away too"; I threatened Melara, and the poor girl could only nod.
"What do you want girls?" The hoarse, accented voice reached my ears, and I couldn't help but feel a numbness go down my back. "We want you to read our future and tell us who we will marry," I ordered, and the woman straightened up, or at least as much as she could.
"I won't, they're too little to know that..." The very stupid one dared to deny my wish, to me, the lioness of Casterly Rock, "You will, or you will have to leave my city before I send my dogs after you, you damned witch." I told her, sounding as scary as I could, but that was enough, because the ugly woman moved closer to her table and picked up a twisted old dagger, and I immediately took my dagger.
"A drop of blood for each," she said, and without thinking, I reached over and held out my hand. The witch pricked my finger, and once her knife was painted with my blood, she brought it to her mouth.
After a few seconds, and noticing her eyes turning more yellow, she spoke again; "I offer you three questions, just three."
"Will I ever marry the prince?" was my first question, one I wanted to know moons ago, much more so after my father promised to make me queen. But the witch's answer only confused me.
"No, you will not marry a prince, you will marry a lord, and so queen you will be." A lord? And so I will be queen? That all sounded stupid and meaningless. "But what lord could I become queen? Only by marrying the prince will I be."
"From the union between the Pride and the Wild will come your crown." The witch's most confusing answer only made my head spin. Not understanding anything, and coming to think it was a waste of time to have come here in the first place.
"Will I have children with that Lord who will make me queen?" was my last question, and the witch's answer sealed my fate.
"Yes, of course. Sixteen for him, and three for you, gold shall be his crowns, and gold his shrouds, and when you become childless, a younger and more beautiful one shall take your place, unless you so permit."
It was all stupidity, if it had not been for the rumors that she knew the future, I would never have entered this tent, and I would never have allowed Maggy the frog to taste my tomorrows in a drop of blood. And now I looked like the stupid one, seeing that this would have ended in nothing.
"It's your turn girl"; the witch referred to Melara, and the girl said her first and only question; "will I marry Jaime?"
"Hahaha, no, not with Jaime or anyone, the worms will have your virginity, death will come today girl, can you smell his breath girl? It's very close, and all because of your friend Cersei's action."
Me? What had I to do with it? Which made an unparalleled fury fill my body, and without thinking, I took my dagger and slashed the damned woman's face, at the same time I took a vial from her table and poured its contents into her face, and cries of wailing and pain filled my ears.
"Let's go!" I said between screams as I saw what I had done, taking Melara's hand and walking out of the hut, but just at that I crashed into someone, " Hold on, where are you going in such a hurry Cersei, what happened?" Lady Janna was in front of us, in the company of three other guards.
"We were going to the castle, weren't we Melara?" I replied, and the girl followed my line without thinking. But I knew Lady Janna would not be fooled, especially since I'm sure they must have heard the cries of the witch Maggy.
"You may go Ser, I will stay with Cersei," Lady Janna said to my father's man, and without saying anything to me, she took my hand and motioned me back into the hut, with Melara behind us. "Can you tell me everything that happened? Don't leave anything out, because I will know." She asked me to tell her everything, and as much as I didn't want to, I ended up telling her everything, from the prophecy to my future, and Melara's future.
"Cersei, it's time you learned something about power," instead of a scolding or a tirade, what greeted me was a cold look from Lady Janna, accompanied by advice, " Power, is power, it lies where men think it lies, instead, we women know that power lies in ourselves, not in a sword, not in something material, but in us, in our flesh, in our womb, in our tongue, and our mind."
As he spoke, he walked over to where Maggy the Frog was, who was still treating the wounds he had caused her, "This woman is not a witch, believe me, I have seen them with my own eyes, and true witches are to be feared, respected, left alone, instead, this woman is just someone who learned concoctions for pain, but today I tell you, not everything she told you is a lie, you will be queen Cersei, even if it means I have to kill the current one."
I was shocked and immediately looked at Melara, who was in shock, what Lady Janna had said was treason, and it was not a good thing to say while in the company of outsiders, "the future is not written in stone", however, Lady Janna didn't care about that, because she kept talking, instead, she reached Maggy and in one sudden movement, broke her arm.
"AHH!" The ugly woman screamed, filling the tent with cries of wailing and weeping, weeping that intensified as her second arm was broken. At this point, Melara had fainted, and only I was still standing thanks only to my willpower, "take your dagger, hold on to your self-made future, and not by the saying pro a charlatan, grow up Cersei, and don't let anyone walk all over you, even if it means you'll have to finish them off."
"I... I can't," I told her, taking someone's life, murdering them, was a strong thing to do, and I wasn't capable of it, "of course you're capable! You are a lioness of Casterly Rock, Lannister blood runs through your veins, face your destiny and grow with it, don't stay behind to die in your weak and hopeless past."
"Die!" I screamed, eyes closed and body spasming, with reality being brought back to me as I felt something warm running down my right wrist. Opening my eyes, I noticed I had stabbed Maggy in the chest, her blood staining my hands. "Very well done Cersei, your training has reached new heights, now that you know how to wield a sword and remove a sword with metal, protecting yourself and a city of your own will not be difficult for you, now go, two of my guards will help clean you up, the Royal Fleet ships are coming soon."
Nodding, I removed my hand from the dagger, watching as Maggy's yellow eyes looked at me without their former glow, and for a moment, remorse flashed through my mind, but then I dismissed it, she had cursed me, she had said my children would die, that I would be involved in Melara's death, it was all a lie. Piss on your prophecy, Old.
"What about her?" I asked about Melara, who was still unconscious on the floor, "Don't worry my child, I'll make sure she gets home."