The King of Winters

Chapter 40

Andrew

"Ha!" Ballos Aenon boomed when he saw Andrew in the tavern. "Andrew Snow. I feared we'd seen the last of you and that solemn face of yours."

"Since when did you come to fear about something, Aenon?"

That made the old man grin. "Well said, lad. I was never afraid of anything. Even now I could hope to match with you, toe-to-toe. Did you bring that blue sword of yours?"

"No, I didn't." He had no reason to bring Frost out today. The western sky was already red and the sun no more than a faint patch of brightness beneath the clouds. Night would be upon him before he reached home and wearing a sword at night will bring the bravos to him and challenging him. Andrew had no idea to get in a meaningless fight. 

A serving girl kept a tankard of his strong black beer before him. Andrew took a drink from it and kept it on the table. "So what are you doing?" Andrew asked him. "You've been busy. I couldn't see you here."

"Busy?" Ballos laughed. "Now there's a word that I can say about you too. How was your sailing business?"

"My sailing business?"

"You know, the business you had to do in ships. Illola told me of it."

Of course she did and thank the Gods for that. He owed another thanks to the woman now. She had done a good job in covering up his disappearance. "Aye, that," Andrew sounded as coolly as possible. "That went good."

"Good for you." Ballos extended his cup towards a serving girl to refill it. "Things here were not so good while you were away in the sea, Snow." He came close to him and lowered his voice as he continued. "Do you remember the Westerosi Prince's death and the assassin who did it for the Targaryen? He came again. He came for the king when the Dragon king arrived in Braavos. Half a hundred people died that day and there were others too, common people who died in the commotion. I myself came close to crossing swords with him but Lord Tycho ordered me to bring him back to the castle and I should thank him for it, Snow. Trust me when I say, dozens of Braavos' finest bravos died that day. You could've got a good fight yourself. A shame you missed it."

I didn't miss it. I was there that day, Andrew thought but he kept quiet. "What happened to the king?" he asked.

"He ran back to Westeros," Ballos said. "He thinks he is safe in his castle, not in Braavos."

"What about the deal with the Iron Bank then?"

"It was not finished." Ballos took a long, big gulp of his drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "The king was too afraid to stay and finish them."

That was a good news. If Rhaegar doesn't have the support of the Iron Throne he loses one of his biggest allies and also his grip on his kingdom. At least his rage had done something good for him. Andrew chuckled lightly at the thought.

Ballos took the tankard and downed another swig, then wiped his mouth. "Well, you could not blame him for it though," the old man said. He lowered his voice once again. "Despite all the rumors going on, the assassin is not dead. He is not. He jumped into the canal and we searched for days for a trace of him but we got nothing."

I am very much alive and I have to thank Joy for it. "Perhaps, the eels might have finished him off."

"Might be," said Ballos. "Well, I never had much use for him anyway. But a man got to appreciate pure skill." He cracked a bawdy joke at a one-eyed bravo beside him who dropped his mead and the hall echoed with laughter. "Too good a skill to be wasted on eels."

"All men die."

"All men must die," Ballos admitted, "and women too, and every beast that flies or swims or runs. It's not the when of dying that matters, it's the how of it, Snow."