Fourth Month of 283 A.C. Tower of Joy
Ser Arthur Dayne
Life at the tower was growing dim, there was little to no news coming through, and there was little interaction with the outside world. On Rhaegar's order they had done little but get supplies from nearby holdfasts and lands though the people of the nearby lands had come to learn of Lyanna's presence and as such any insult to their Princess was an insult to them, so reactions to asking them for food and water did not go over well. It was frustrating, and to some extent he could understand where they were coming from, hells were he not sworn to the Kingsguard, there was so much he wish he could have done to make a difference. He should have tried harder to convince Rhaegar not to take the girl, he should have fought harder with the man and argued consistently, but his vows and his damned honour had gotten in the way and now they were going to pay the price for it. News had come, a rider from Kingsgrave had come to inform them of the horrifying news of the God's Eye and the Sack of King's Landing, and now they were going to have to discuss it.
"We should have remained with the Prince or with the king, we are the best knights of the realm, and as such could have made a difference. But no Rhaegar just had to ask us to remain here to play nursemaid to his little she wolf, and now the man is dead along with his children." Oswell said his tone indicating his thoughts on the matter.
Gerold, was silent for a time at this and then his voice came to light. "This is true, but then again we chose Rhaegar as our king and we were sworn to obey him. We could not have disobeyed his orders without calling into question our vows and our own senses of duty. Yes remaining here has proven to be frustrating, but there is some doubt that we could have made too much of a difference at the God's Eye. Jonothor and Lewyn were there and yet they both died at the battle. What more could we have done that they could not have?"
Oswell laughs then. "We could have made sure the men did not flee when they were cut down. I am sure they men fled because the knights of the Kingsguard were dead, Rhaegar would have tried to hold the battle together and we all know he would have been commanding the vanguard, unaware of the chaos going on around him. There is much and more that we could have done, but being here that is all we can do. Speculate and speculate until nothing more comes of it. I say we should have been there."
The Lord Commander is silent for a long time and then says. "True, and whilst I understand your frustrations, we are now by right of the last orders of Prince Rhaegar to protect his wife and unborn child. We must remain true to our vows and ensure that Princess Lyanna and her child are protected from whatever men the usurper sends to find her. He has shown what he will do to those who are related to Prince Rhaegar, and that is something that I cannot and will not allow to happen here."
Oswell speaks up once more. "By rights of succession, Prince Viserys is now the king. He is the one who should be getting our protection. Princess Lyanna should not be a concern of ours just now, we must decide on what to do to ensure Viserys has the right amount of support and allies to stake a claim on the throne. Princess Lyanna, will most likely give birth to a girl based on what her handmaiden is saying or has said."
Arthur speaks then. "We do not know whether or not she will give birth to a girl. She could give birth to a boy, and then we would need to ensure that child is well protected as it would be the king. The rightful king. Regardless though our orders were to ensure Princess Lyanna was and is protected from harm and we must continue to hold to that vow. The Starks will no doubt be coming to look for her, and when they come we must be ready to put forward a fight. I will not do as Ser Barristan did and capitulate to the usurper."
At this Gerold nods. "Barristan whilst a good man, was someone who had begun to have doubts about the regime. He is a good knight and a fine warrior but his knightly vows were getting in the way of his loyalty. Too often did he question what was not supposed to be questioned. And now he has sworn himself to the usurper it will be hard to convince him to come back to our side. There is too much at stake now to allow someone such as Barristan to come back into the Kingsguard. And if the man is willing to work with Jaime Lannister then one must question whether he would be a valued asset anyway."
And so they had finally arrived at the big question in the room, the matter of Jaime Lannister and his actions. Arthur was not sure what he felt and said as much. "I do not think that Jaime did wrong in removing Aerys from the throne Gerold. Yes Aerys was the king, but the man was mad, we all know that. He had done things that deserved being removed from the throne, and were it any other man who had killed him, we would all be saying that the man had done the realm a service. I do not see why we should castigate Jaime just because he did it as a knight of the Kingsguard."
The Lord Commander looks at him for a long moment before saying. "It is because he was a knight of the Kingsguard that we must consider this issue. There were plenty of things the boy could have done other than kill the king. He could have knocked him out or ensured that the man was incapacitated. But killing the king? That is something that needs looking at, yes he did the realm a service, but that service has come at a cost. Now people will look at the Kingsguard and wonder what sort of men we are. What sort of knights we are."
Arthur speaks then. "And indeed they should. Under Aerys reign a lot happened that perhaps should not have happened. We have become the things we are supposed to protect the realm from. We became goons and thugs, and no matter how we might try to justify it to ourselves, the Kingsguard has fallen from the heights that it had under King Aegon the Fortunate, and his predecessors. We are becoming a shadow of ourselves. Jaime's action can be seen as a stain on the Kingsguard or as a chance to begin the process to ensuring that House Targaryen is never again questioned."
The Lord Commander looks at him for a long time and his voice is deep and commanding when he says. "The Kingsguard is an institution that is supposed to stand ahead and aside from such political manoeuvrings. We are supposed to be the guards of the royal family, there to watch but never comment unless asked. If we begin playing in the game of thrones that the nobles do, we are no better than them. The Kingsguard was formed to be better than that, to be loyal to the King and only the king. Begin looking at something other than that and other complications come into the matter. I can see where you are coming from Arthur, but one could make the case had we stuck true and not sided with Prince Rhaegar over King Aerys, this mess would not have happened. It was our backing that gave the prince the confidence to go forward with his plans."
"And those plans needed to go forward Gerold. Come now, you, yourself have said that Aerys was not the man he was in his youth and was falling into an abyss that none of us or anyone would have been able to pull him out of. We had to back Rhaegar, and we did so willingly, all of us here did and Lewyn did as well. We were doing what we did for the good of the realm, Aerys was a man who would have brought the realm into the abyss with him and destroying the lives of many innocent people. As knights of the realm it was our duty and remains our duty to ensure that the innocents are protected and safe." Arthur says.
Oswell speaks then and says. "Arthur is right Gerold. The Kingsguard is not what it was when you joined, we have all committed our fair share of crimes after all. The Kingsguard is not the famed institution that it was when you joined it Gerold. Men such as Duncan the tall, Morgan Darklyn and Tom Costayne are few and far between now. We are not the storied legends they were, and the sooner we accept that the better."
Arthur nods and looks at Gerold who seems to be considering all of this, and when he speaks his voice is slow and ponderous. "What you say is true, but there are many issues that need to be addressed before the changes that you want can come into place. The main question that is there, is the question of Obedience. We are sworn to obey the king's orders without question, and that is something that will need to be addressed. When King Aegon and his son Jaehaerys were alive, there was no trouble in obeying their orders, they were good men and good kings, and we gladly carried out their orders. But under Aerys the old way came back, and now we have a struggle between ensuring the knightly vows and the Kingsguard vows. Which one takes precedence, the knightly ones or the Kingsguard vows? There's too much that needs to be considered before we lose sight of our true purpose. But that is a matter for another day. Now Arthur you are the one the princess is close to, it is your duty to inform her of her husband's demise."
Arthur nods and it is with a heavy heart that he stands and makes the climb up to where the princess spends most of her time. She is humming a soft song when he knocks and enters her room, "Ser Arthur what news is there? Has there been word from Rhaegar?"
He sighs and says. "Princess, there is no easy way to say this, so I shall just say it. There was a rider from Kingsgrave this morning, carrying news from the battlefield. Prince Rhaegar is dead, slain by Robert Baratheon at the God's Eye. And from there the rebels took King's Landing, with Tywin Lannister sacking the city and killing Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys. Robert Baratheon is the king now."
The princess looks at him with something akin to shock on her face, as she digests the news and begins processing it and then she screams. "No! That cannot be true, it cannot be true. Rhaegar was not supposed to die, he said he would come back. He promised he would come back.!" The princess keeps screaming this over and over again, forcing her handmaiden to come back into the room, as well as Gerold and Oswell to come up into the room as well. The princess is screaming and thrashing about throwing things and shouting.
Arthur feels his heart break a little seeing her like this, she who was so strong and defiant broken by something such as this. He knows not how long it goes on for but when the princess stops it is not to calm down but because another scream comes from her mouth, and Arthur looks down with some horror to see water trickling down from her dress onto the floor