SWNOVELXO Chapter 3: Reveal
Renly sat in his solar, it had been almost 4 years since he went to king's landing and in a week, he would turn 16, a momentous happening, for it meant he would become a grown man. Over the last few years, he had grown into a competent fighter, nowhere near as good as the kingslayer or the other greatest of knights but good enough to hold his own in a fight. He couldn't wear metal armor, because of his Druidic powers, so he would fight with leather armor, making him less protected but more agile. He favoured a shortsword, leaving his other hand free to cast spells. He was now ready to reveal his powers to the world. Jurne was standing besides him and they were going over the preparations for the tourney, "the stands are still under construction, they should be ready any day now, we can accommodate 300 lords and ladies and a few thousand common folk"
"Excellent", Renly nodded, looking at the numbers, "we have the prize money ready, right maester?"
"Yes, 50 thousand dragons, divided over the joust, the melee and the archery contest", maester Jurne nodded, "are you sure you want to divide the winnings in neat thirds? It is customary to have the joust have a greater reward"
"And that is exactly why we should divide it evenly, the knights who are good at jousting get the most glory, even though it is the skill of a tourney that has the least practical use. You won't get an opponent to ride at you with a lance in a straight path in a real battle", Renly insisted, the melee and archery contest were much more useful, "leave me now, I will handle the rest of the paperwork myself"
"As you will it, milord", the maester left the solar. After Renly checked that he was gone, he lifted one of the paintings on the wall, a piece reaching back to the emergence of house Baratheon, depicting its first Lord. Behind it was a hole in the wall, where he kept the dragon eggs, he looked at the metallic looking scales of the two eggs, white and yellow in color. He had tried hatching them multiple times in the last year but nothing worked. Infusing them with magic nurtured the life growing in them but it didn't cause them to hatch. He had even burned a few criminals to imitate the pyre that would birth Daenerys' dragons but they didn't hatch. He didn't know what else to try. There was a knock at the door. Renly positioned the painting back to how it was and called for the person to enter. It was the master at arm, "You haven't shown up for swordplay lessons today, or any day in the last week", he was a gruff man with a balding head and a massive moustache.
"I'm sorry, ser, I have been busy planning the tourney. Why don't we have a little duel right now, just to make sure I don't get rusty?", Renly grabbed his short sword and unsheathed it.
"That is what I like to hear", the master at arms, Ser Harry Buckler drew his bastard sword and they moved the furniture to the sides of the room, so that they have a makeshift arena. Ser Harry and Renly circled each other, till Renly rand forward with an overhead strike, which his opponent blocked. He jumped back just in time to avoid the sword's arch and he used the momentum of the attack against him, clashing against his sword in an attempt to disarm him but Ser Harry's grip was too strong. With the next swing, he graced Renly's arm, ripping the woolen shirt he had on. Renly's short sword had less reach than the bastard blade that his opponent used, so he had to get in close. He ducked under the next swing and stepped forward, only a hands length away from the knight, he laid his blade against the man's throat, "I win", Renly declared.
"Just like last time… I don't think I have much left to teach you… other than to watch for the offhand", Ser Harry smirked, nodding down. He held his bastard sword in one hand and in the other was a dagger, pressed against Renly's side. Were this a real fight, both of them would be dead now, "still, good performance. You clearly haven't forgotten what I taught you, very well, I'll leave you to your paperwork"
Renly sighed, looking at his shirt, which now had a hole in it. A quick cure wounds closed the cut on his flesh and a quick mending did the same for the shirt. He returned to the mountains of paperwork still left to be done and groaned. He would do half of it now and have the maester deal with the other half later.
A good few hours later, he was done with his part of the work and walked out of his solar, into the hall, where he would have dinner with his guests. Most of the lords and ladies from the stormlands were already there, his eyes traveled over them, the cafferen lord and his lady, Lord Caron and his son, Lady Cole, Lord Mertyn and his two young children and many more. He sat at the head of the lord's table, where he took a serving of lamb and mashed potatoes, eating them whilst he observed the Lords and ladies, there were over fifty of them, all from the stormlands. Cortnay Penrose, his castallen offroad him a goblet of wine, "You are almost a man grown, it is time you drink some wine, this is a good dornish red I had imported for the tourney"
Renly took the goblet and drank from it, the wine was sweet and warmed him from the inside. It wasn't the first drink he had had in this world but he liked to drink in private mostly, so this was his first drink in front of another person.
"Good, right?", Cortnay asked, looking at him expectedly.
"It is good, quenches the thirst", Renly nodded approvingly, nursing his drink as he took another bite of the lamb.
"If you like that, you have to try the vodka we've been producing, you came up with the recipe, right? Let's get you some", Cortnay called over to one of the servants, "bring us two shot goblets and a bottle of vodka"
A young looking servant ran off and returned with the items a minute or two later, setting down the shots and filling them up.
Ser Cortnay and Renly toasted to the lord's health and downed their shots.
Over the next week, other lords and ladies came to Storm's end and finally, it was time for the tourney to start. On the stands, he overlooked the nobles and common folk alike who had come to watch the tourney and even participate in it. Renly's brothers hadn't come, 'too busy', they said but most likely, Robert was just busy hunting and Stannis was running the country with the hand of the king, Jon Arryn and the rest of the small council.
"Welcome everyone to my tourney", He spoke with a booming voice, capturing their attention easily, "For my name day celebration, I have spared no costs, food will be served to all that attend between the events. Highborn and lowborn alike will feast like kings to celebrate my manhood."
The lowborn cheered loudly, drowning out whatever else he wanted to say. He had to wait for a couple of minutes before they calmed down and he could continue, "Now, let's begin with the joust, our first two contenders are lord Guilan Swann of stonehelm and Lord Jon Pryor of pebble"
The stormland lord Swann and the Vale lord Pryor seated their horses and got their lances handed to them by their squires, "Begin!"
The two rode at each other, hitting each other's shields. Neither was unseated nor did their equipment break, so they rode to the other side and rushed at each other again. Another three attempts and one broken lance -from Swann- later, lord Pryor dismounted the stormland lord and raised his lance in triumph.
The next joust was between a frey boy, barely a man himself and the heir to the Algood's of the westerlands. Rian Frey unmounted the Algood with one charge.
The jousts continued to occur for the next hour, after each battle, there was a small break for the participants to vacate the arena and make way for the next. In the end, the final joust was between Rian Frey and Walder Mudd, the frey boy was victorious in the end. Renly personally gave the money to the Frey boy, slapping him on the back for the good performance. After the joust was over, Renly ordered for the first meal to be served, several hundred roasted pigs were prepared by his kitchen staff, roasted over open flames outside the arena. Every man, woman and child present got their share, from lords to fishermen to even the homeless. That day would be the first in many years in which not a single person in Storm's end went to sleep hungry. After the melee(which ended in a draw), they served desert, the first proper sweets that most of the common folk had ever had and after the archery contest(won by a Lannister), they were each served wine, vodka and ale to end the day. When all was said and done, the people were happy, full and a little drunk. Renly announced something to them which would shake up what each of them believed.
"My dear lords, ladies and subjects. I have been blessed by the gods, both old and new. The seven and the old gods appeared to me in a dream several years ago, just after I inherited Storm's end. They saw it fit to bestow to me divine powers. Magic is mine to control, thus is the gift of the seven", he let fireballs explode in the air above them, not just one but three, which exploded with a loud 'boom', "And from the old gods I have been given the power to take on the forms of animals"
He transformed in front of them, his arms turned into wings and his hairs into feathers, as he turned into a giant hawk, flying up and circling them, before landing and transforming into a stag, the sigil of house Baratheon and turning back into a man.
The crowd was too stunned to speak.
"It is time for me to retire to my chambers", Renly spun in place, turning into a hawk and flying off to his bedchambers and went to sleep. That night, everyone was talking about the blessed Renly. Some didn't want to believe what he said, that he was blessed but those who had seen his powers first hand nicknamed him the sorcerer lord. That was not the only thing which the bards sang about the following weeks, they also composed praise songs about how Renly had fed the entire city. Public opinion was at an alltime high. The septon's and septa's went with the story that he was blessed, saying that this was a sign that the Baratheon's as a whole were blessed by the seven due to them usurping the Targaryen's.
Over the next few months, news of Renly's powers spread through the entirety of Westeros and even the free cities of Essos. Not many in Essos believed the tale, whilst in Westeros, the claims took better hold due to the lords and ladies present confirming the tales, though they had to right some wrongs. The news travelled via word of mouth, so the facts were quickly muddied. One of the most outrageous claims was that the seven themselves had appeared before them to proclaim Renly as their champion.
Many lords tried marrying off their daughters to him, which would've happened either way but was only made stronger by the news of his powers. He denied all marriage proposals, he wanted to wed Daenerys in the future or maybe Margaery? He wasn't sure yet but those were the only ones worthy of becoming his wife and later, after Robert was dead, his queen, at least the only ones for now… things could always change. 'Never say never' and all that.