Oaths and Vows {Jaime Lannister}

Chapter 3

The ride from Shadowstone to the Old Port was longer than Megara had thought it would be. She always imagined the space between places in Asshai were small, as there was not much space about the castle and so many Mages could travel between wherever they were and reach Shadowstone in just a day, less in fact, but she had clearly been wrong.

The company only served to prolong the journey. The muted mongrels were not very pleasant to be around as all they seemed to do was growl and grunt and stare. Euron was alright enough, but he was riding in the front and she only heard mutters from him talking to himself in all effects.

Meg couldn't really complain; she was not exactly loud rambunctious company either. It was fine weather to travel in though, with clouds thick in the sky blocking the scorch the sun often radiated. The horses seemed to love the weather as well, as they were riding hard and fast with no resistance. Her own horse, the beautiful black stallion, was in a good mood quite clearly as the horse obeyed every command with almost no effort needed.

They had reached the Old Port when the sun had reached the middle of the sky, which Euron had called good time. It was with great interest that Megara had looked on the Port in. There was one landing that really remained standing; it was there that Euron's ship was docked. The rest, however, were sunken and rotting, and amongst it were the wrecks of old ships, likely from when Valeria when it was still a great city, thriving and solid and alive.

"Gasher, carry the Lady's trunk to the cabin next to mine, Hard Hound, get the horses on board and comfortable. Aye, that's it Mutts!" Crows-Eye yelled once they'd reached the ship. The Horses disliked it, that was plain even without a connection to nature as a mage had. They reared as they were guided onto the ship, and Euron's horse had even gotten snappy and tried to shorten Hard Hound of a nose.

It wouldn't be the worst of the man's injuries, it appeared. Hard Hound was large and his nose looked almost like a snout, his face was more scars than skin, and she didn't want to think what he was like beneath his tunic. "This is my daughter, my wife and my kingdom," said Euron to Megara as they watched the Mongrels ready the ship. That's very unique, Meg thought.

"Her name is Silence," He went on. Does he think I'll respond to him? "She's the greatest ship on the seas, her Captain could be a king and his crew is the best to sail the seas – and they have sailed the seas. All around to the southernmost tip of Sothoros, around all of Essos – why, even here we stand, in Asshai, the land no other dared to venture." We clearly venture here, we live here.

She simply nodded at him, wordlessly of course. He is full of himself, she thought as she watched the Mongrels pack their ship and ready it. I wonder if this Kingslayer, as they call him, will be full of himself. He might be, if he's called the most handsome man in the Seven Kingdoms. I wonder if that's true either. I wonder if it stinks so much as her father said it might, I wonder....

Her hand found her runes, but what once gave her comfort only served as a sour reminder of her mother's plan to kill her and the reason she was leaving her home. Stupid golden tree!

When the ship was ready, and the horses settled unhappily aboard, she joined Euron and his Mongrels on the deck of it. It's happening, this is really happening. As the mongrels bellow the deck began to row, the watched the Old Port fade to the distance, watched her home drift away, getting smaller and smaller as the ship sailed out. Ellie, Father, all of them. I'll kill you for this mother, I will. I swear.

She dried her eyes and turned around to see Euron standing behind her with his hand on the hilt of his sword as he waited. "You done with your goodbyes? The land is a pile of ash and fire anyway, nothing to miss once you've tasted the rest of the world." Easy for you to say, she wanted to snap at him, you were born and raised elsewhere. This is my home, everything and everyone I've ever known. Instead she just locked her jaw and clenched her fists.

"Shall I show you where you'll be sleeping or you going to punch me?" I might, just to rid you of that smirk. Instead, she nodded at him to show the way. Her led her down a ladder to bellow the deck, past the rowing mongrels and into the captain's cabin. From there they went through a door and into the smallest room the girl had ever seen. The bed was stuffed with feathers, and the window was a hole with a flapping shutter attached. Her trunk was at the foot of the bed.

"I'll be on the deck if you need me... or want me." Never, she thought, even if I wasn't betrothed and you were the last man on to walk the earth, never. Once Euron was gone and she was left by her lonesome, she laid down on the bed. Quickly thereafter she learned a featherbed was nowhere near as soft and comfortable as a rose one. There was a hole in the roof, she saw as she laid there.

She was using her long curly red hair as a pillow, and her hands to add height and comfort. Her cloak was a warmer blanket than the once Euron had given her. She let her eyes fluttered closed and opened her mind as she had learned to do. First she found the horses, shuffling about in their makeshift on board stable. Next was a seagull cawing from high above. Finally she found what she was hoping for, a dolphin in the deep, though close enough for her to find it.

She dove into it. Back on the surface, her eyes opened, though her iris were now yellow and small like a dolphin's. Meanwhile the dolphin's eyes were glowing gold. It was dark in the sea, but it was much brighter when she swam higher to the surface. She could see the oars of the ship slicing in and out of the water and saw Euron standing close to the rail, staring at the sea looking pleased.

She swam as close as she dared, but spent more time playing in the water than watching the boat. Instead she jumped from the water, swam low into the depths, chased her own fishy tail, all of it. It was dark when she felt it, the painfully tight gripping of an arm that didn't feel like it was there.

Her body jerked, and coughing she fell over onto the floor, struggling and gasping for air. Her arm was still in someone's grip, though it had loosened slightly. How could I have been so careless? She scolded herself, I'm on a ship full of mad pirates and muted mongrels and I spent a day in a daze as a dolphin?!

"Welcome back, beautiful. You've been sleeping for a while." Euron said. A candle had been lit beside her bed, though it was still dark, and the orange light was foreign to her. The light made Euron look more monster than man, with a gleaming eye and a half shaded face and a snarl on his pale blue lips. "Of course, that didn't really look like sleeping."

Silence swayed and rocked gently as it drifted, the oars were no longer rowing as the men were either sleeping or supping. Just like Euron's wife, daughter and castle, silence swayed with in the room. Has he forgotten I can't speak? "What, nothing to say little Lady? You could write it if you like but I'm going to find out what was happening with your eyes."

She grabbed the quill and Parchment off the side of her bed and wrote down, very quickly, 'If you're such a genius pirate figure it out!' Euron made a growling noise at that, and shook his head. "No, you're going to tell me or you're going to die." Pirates, she thought, irritated. 'I could beat you with a sword, or are you going to butcher me unarmed?' she wrote.

"You're asking to duel me for the truth?" Euron's smirk was more menacing than his scowl in the flickering candle light, but she did not let herself show fear. 'Yes. I am. Unless you're afraid?' "Ready yourself for a fight then, my Lady."