"But why? What happened?" Sam asked with a bewildered look as he hurriedly climbed down the carriage while taking out the axe hidden behind his seat.
"The men at the port entrance suddenly started checking everyone entering the gates a few minutes ago. They are looking at every person closely, and are especially paying close attention to the ones in carriages," Merchant Sam replied grimly, "So, unless we are the luckiest people in the world... I am guessing they are looking for this one," he finished, jerking his head towards the girl half hidden behind the window, her eyes looking nervously at him.
"B-But how? I am sure the medicine should have knocked them out for a while longer," Sam said incomprehensibly, as he had, after all, been the one to prepare the sleeping poison for all those people in the mansion, and he knew more than anyone else how much effort and care it had taken to do this.
Because on one hand, he had to make sure that the poison knocks them out long enough for Jon to be able to do his job, while also making sure it was weak enough that it does not kill everyone and cause a massacre, "Ah! Damn it! I bet it must have been that Magister who woke up. I knew I should have increased the dosage a few more times, with the amount of fat that bastard has," Sam cursed with regret in his voice.
"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Merchant Sam said impatiently, "What's happened, has happened, so if you are done whining about it, then we need to immediately move before anyone sees us and decides we are suspicious people."
"Oh, right," he replied, embarrassedly as he immediately ran back to open the door to the carriage, "Dany! It seems we will have to walk the rest of the way."
"I heard," Daenerys said anxiously as she climbed down the carriage while carrying a sleeping Gan in her palms, "But will it be alright?" she asked as the Merchant Sam immediately began leading the two of them down the road, away from the carriage Sam had quickly parked on the side of the road, "Maybe I should just go back?" she muttered morosely, wondering if she was about to cause the possible of death of two people she had barely gotten to know.
"Hello, Little Lady, it is nice to meet you," Merchant Sam suddenly turned his head and greeted in a soothing voice.
"Nice to meet you, er..." Daenerys replied with a forced smile as she looked around at everyone passing by, hoping against hope that none of them were guards sent to capture her.
"My name is Sam," The Merchant said with a warm smile, "But you can call me Uncle Sam, just like the others do... it just makes it easier to differentiate me from this one," he chuckled while pointing towards Samwell, who was guarding their rear with his hand tightly gripping the axe on his back.
"Um, what about—"
"We have not reached the dead end yet, little lady," Merchant Sam interrupted her calmly, knowing what she was about to ask, "So there is no need for you to worry about it so much. Sending you back to that Mansion will be our very last resort."
'I don't know if that resort is even available to me anymore,' Daenerys thought with a self-deprecating chuckle as she remembered her daring theft of the precious dragon eggs, wondering what the Magister's reaction was after he found out about her—"Ah! Wait! I forgot my bag!" Daenerys suddenly cried out loud with a panicked look as she abruptly stopped in the middle of the street.
"What?" Merchant Sam frowned as he looked back at her, "Is it important?"
"More than anything else," Daenerys replied firmly. Not to mention the eggs, her mother's crown was in there too, and she was not about to lose it again after getting it back so many years later.
"I will go, get it," Sam said suddenly when he saw the Merchant looking troubled about going all the way back.
Merchant Sam considered it for a moment before nodding his head, "Go then. We will keep going and meet you by the last inn before the port entrance."
"Understood," Sam nodded before immediately turning around to run back towards the carriage, all while hoping that nobody had already noticed that it had been abandoned and taken it away.
The two left behind did not waste any more time and were once again on their way.
After fifteen minutes of passing through many small and big winding streets filled with more people than Daenerys had ever seen in her life, they finally reached the inn that the Merchant had mentioned to Sam.
"Act casual," Merchant Sam murmured to Daenerys as he looked at the Guards stationed at the entrance and then led Daenerys towards a nearby stall and began browsing as if he was searching for something while sneaking discreet glances at the guards, monitoring their behaviour.
"How did they even find out about us?" Daenerys asked in a distressed voice, "We did not make a single stop along the way, so how did this happen so quickly?"
"Someone must have sent a raven to the guards," Merchant Sam replied distractedly, his eyes wholly focused on the entrance. "It won't work," he murmured with a sigh.
"Huh? What won't work?" Daenerys asked confusedly.
"Your hair." The Merchant replied with a grim look, as he turned to look at her, "Look at the guards carefully, they are carefully checking every single female leaving through the gates, especially the ones with hair colour closely resembling yours. No matter how much we try to hide you, they are bound to scrutinise you the moment we try to cross the gate."
"T-Then what should we do?" Daenerys asked with dismay in her voice..
"Let me think," The merchant said with a frown, trying to remember all the ways that one can pass through such a gate, from bribery, to secret smuggling routes, to waiting for the night, a lot of different ideas passed through his head, but he rejected all of them, because not only were they dangerous but were also very too time consuming, and he knew the longer they spent here, the more the chances of their discovery was.
But just as he was at his wits' end, his eyes caught sight of a female slave passing by, and almost immediately, an absurdly simple idea came to him, and he instantly knew that it could work for them.
"Wait here." The Merchant said to Daenerys before he immediately went away towards the shops on the other end of the street, leaving Daenerys standing all alone in front of the stall without any explanation.
Thankfully, the girl did not have to wait for too long, as just a few minutes later, the portly Merchant came running back.
"What did you—"
"Come with me," The merchant interrupted Daenerys and immediately began leading her towards an empty alley filled with trash right beside the Inn they were waiting in front of.
"Here! Take it." Merchant Sam said while handing Daenerys a small leather pouch sloshing with some kind of liquid.
"W-What is this?" Daenerys asked bewilderedly while looking at the strange pouch in her hand.
"It's Hair dye," Merchant Sam replied with a grin, very proud of the idea he had come up with on the spot, "I have already mixed it in there, so you only need to apply it to your head and wash it off a few minutes later for perfect effect."
"Oh... um, what colour is it?"
"Simple black." Merchant Sam replied with a shrug, "The most common colour in the world, with this hair colour, no one's going to give you a second look on the street."
"Ah," The girl nodded her head understandingly and opened the cap of the pouch to look at the disgusting black liquid splashing inside it, "I won't go bald after applying it, will I?" she asked tentatively, having heard plenty of horror stories from the maids in the mansion about how certain sellswords who likes to excess amount of colourful dyes in their hair to make themself appealing go bald very quickly.
"Pretty sure you won't. At least not with just one use." Merchant Sam replied with a comforting smile, "Now hurry up."
"Ugh, fine." The girl replied with a reluctant look on her face as she walked towards the corner of the street, "Here, hold him for me," she said, handing the sleeping rat, Gan, to Merchant Sam.
"Why is he asleep?" Merchant Sam asked questioningly, looking down at the rat, whom he knew was supposed to be one of Jon's warg.
"Um, something about Gan not being able to handle Jon's mind for too long," The girl explained distractedly, as she bent over her waist and poured the sticky gooey liquid mixture over her shiny, beautiful, silver, gold hair, and began applying it with her bare hands, "I don't quite remember what he said."
The girl could only recall that Jon had said that their thieving adventures in the morning had exceeded the limit of what Gan's tiny brain could endure, and he had to give him some time to rest, otherwise it could cause him significant brain damage.
"Well, whatever the reason was, I think it is past time that Jon was here, considering our situation," Merchant Sam said grimly as he looked at the rat in his hands. "So I am going to wake him up."
"Uh, uh," the girl replied absentmindedly, still concentrating on applying the colour evenly to her hair, especially on the root ends.
"Chi?!" The rat asked in a grumbled squeak as it opened its bleary eyes after a few sharp pokes from Merchant Sam.
"Ehm, I need Jon." Merchant Sam said, feeling a bit stupid talking to a rat.
The rat glared at the merchant for a few seconds for disturbing its sleep, but complied with his instructions nonetheless.
After a few seconds with its eyes closed, the rat opened them again, but this time, they had a distinct shade of intelligence in them that let the Merchant know that his Captain is here.
"Jon?"
"Chi!" The rat nodded its head in recognition of the Merchant as it began to take stock of its surroundings, looking at the street they were in, the hunched over form of Daenerys applying dye to her and taking note of the missing Sam.
"So, here is the deal..." The Merchant, without wasting any time, began explaining the things that Jon had missed over the hour that he was away, "...And now we need to somehow pass the gate without them finding out about her."
And just in time, as he finished explaining things to Jon, the last member of their team arrived, running into the alley with a large bag on his shoulder.
"W-Why are you in here? I almost couldn't find you people." Sam complained, huffing and puffing as he placed his axe on the ground and began trying to control his breath, "What are you doing?" he asked bewilderedly while looking at Daenerys, who was emptying a water pouch over her head in the corner behind the Merchant.
"Ugh, Ruining my hair," The girl replied as she grunted and roughly squeezed the water out of her hair, before straightening up and turning towards them with a self-conscious look in her eyes, "How do I look?"
"Um, pretty... normal," Sam said hesitatingly, to which both the Merchant Sam and Jon nodded their head.
With her pale silver hair replaced by a simple black, the ethereal aura that had surrounded the girl because of her Targaryen heritage had now decreased a lot, and she looked more like a beautiful girl from a wealthy noble family now than a goddess reborn.
"Ugh, I don't like it," The girl said as she ran her hand through her wet, sticky hair, "And it ruined my dress too."
"Don't worry, the colour should only last for a few days," Merchant Sam said consolingly as he took back his empty water pouch and placed it in his satchel. "Now we need to hurry; we should pass through the gates before anything else changes," he said while passing the rat back to Daenerys.
"You are right." Daenerys and Sam both nodded their heads, and after the boy picked up his axe and tightened the bag on his back, Sam said, "Let's go," and began leading them out towards the street.
"Wait, wear this." Merchant Sam said, taking off his cloak and handing it to Daenerys, "It is a bit heavy, but it should cover your dress and your face completely. Just make sure to leave your hair out so that they know you are not a Targaryen."
"Mm," Daenerys nodded and wore the heavy cloak without complaining.
A few seconds later, the four of them, including the rat, came out of the street and joined the crowd walking towards the port entrance, looking as casual as they could.
As they got closer to the entrance, the space got narrower and the people moved more slowly because of the guards' strict check of everyone leaving through the gates, drawing quite a few grumbles from the crowd, who mostly consisted of Merchants, sailors, tourists and labourers.
But the stationed soldiers were also quite efficient, letting most of the men go unharrassed, only checking the female ones carefully, especially the younger ones with hair closer to blonde.
Everything went fine for the four of their group at first, as no one gave them a second glance, but just as it was about to be their turn to leave, Daenerys caught sight of something that scared her to her very soul.
"T-That is one of Illyrio's personal guards," Daenerys whispered to the group in a trembling voice while looking up at a man standing on the platform. "He wasn't here before," she said with a panicked look on her face. "He would definitely recognise me."
She remembered this guard being a particularly cruel one who drew pleasure from beating and harassing the maids in the kitchen. Daenerys had even had him punished once, so she knew she would get no mercy and would be called out the moment he laid eyes on her.
"Calm down." Merchant Sam said firmly through the corner of his mouth, "He must have just arrived while we were in the alley." he murmured while discreetly glancing at the guard Daenerys was talking about, "Don't worry, we should be fine for now as he is too far away, and there are too many people here for him to pay us close attention. But lower your cowl just to be on the safe side,"
"Y-Yes," Daenerys replied nervously, as she pulled down her cloak with her eyes at Sam's back, praying to all the gods she knew that they let them pass through safely.
"Move through! Move through! Don't stop!" The guard in charge of their side was shouting nonchalantly, pushing people to move faster, while roughly scanning the crowd, "Hurry up, don't—Wait! Why is she covered up!"
What they feared the most happened, as the guard looked at their group with suspicious eyes and questioned Merchant Sam while his hand neared his sword.
"A thousand apologies, Master." Merchant Sam bowed with a warm smile on his face, "She has 'that' disease, you know, with all kinds of warts and pimples on her face, so we keep her covered up to not ruin our appetite," he said with such a disgusted look on his face that it even made little Daenerys a little self consious for a moment, wondering if she really was that ugly, "But I can show her to you if you want." the Merchant offered with a completelly unbothered expression.
"Ugh, no need," The guard said, backing away a little with a look of revulsion on his face, "Move on, then," he said, waving them off, "...she has black hair anyway," he murmured to himself as his attention went back to the oncoming crowd.
"Yes, yes, sorry for the inconvenience, Master," Merchant Sam bowed as he led the two away from the gate while internally sighing in relief. "Let's go, our boat is not far away," he said with a smile as the four of them hurried on with excitement in their eyes, unable to believe that they were able to trick them so easily.
But unfortunately for them, their cursed luck ran out at the very last moment...
"Wait! Why is she covered up!!" The Guard they were most afraid of shouted with a scowl as he caught sight of Daenerys' covered-up head just as the four were about to leave his line of sight.
"S-She has a disease, master," The guard who had let them go explained nervously, "But she has black hair, I checked, so she is definitely not the one you are looking for."
"I will decide if she is the one or not," The guard hollered with a harsh look on his face, "Now go, drag her back here and show her face to me."
"Of course, of course," The guard bowed before turning towards their group with an ugly look on his face, "Stop! Come back!" he shouted to the trio who just stood there dumbfoundedly for a few seconds, unable to believe how ill-fated they were.
"W-What do we do now?" Daenerys whispered with a despairing look on her face.
"RUN!!"
///