Chapter 399: Assassin's Soul? Extinguished!
Not even the White Walkers had managed to succeed this many times—once again, Arya had given the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch a proper fright.
Acting immediately on Myrcella's report, Egger first led a frantic, fruitless search through the living quarters for nearly a quarter-hour before finally realizing: running around like a headless chicken was useless. He needed to go to the side of the person she most likely viewed as a target—and wait for the rabbit to stumble into the trap!
Egger rushed back to the tower on the island. Under the suspicious gaze of Daenerys, who was elegantly sipping hot soup, he charged up to the top floor and looked out the window. Sure enough, he saw the scene of Arya crossing the frozen lake with a branch in hand, positioned right in the center. He wanted to shout for her to stop, but feared scaring the girl into falling through the ice. Forced to endure the tension, he watched her safely cross and reach the island. While she stood beneath the tower, killing intent radiating as she scouted the two guards, he slipped downstairs, circled the tower, and finally caught the girl from behind.
"Sneaking around... what are you doing?" Egger furrowed his brows and grabbed her arm. "With this little skill, you're trying to play assassin?"
"I'm not!" Arya struggled frantically for a moment, playing dumb with stubborn defiance. "What assassin... you... you... why are you running up behind people and scaring them!"
"Where is the sword?" Egger looked the girl up and down but saw no sign of Needle.
Good thing I hid it under my clothes, Arya thought, feeling lucky and suddenly emboldened. "What sword? I was just curious what the Mad King's daughter looked like... I came to have a look!"
Egger had no patience for Arya's games. Though Needle was small, it was a sword, not a dagger; it couldn't be completely hidden. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a bulging protrusion beneath the cloth at her waist—clearly a sword hilt—and reached for it without ceremony.
"Ow! What are you doing!" Arya backed up against the wall, using her body to shield the weapon, refusing to submit. "Don't touch me!"
"Give me the sword!"
Egger barked the command, pressing forward to seize it. Arya curled up, desperately guarding the small blade tucked under her coat. The two became a tangled mess; to an uninformed outsider, it might have looked like he was trying to tear off her clothes. The girl was indeed strong, but only compared to her peers. Facing a grown man using his full strength, she was no match and was quickly routed.
"No! You... you're being a brute! I'm going to scream!"
"Go ahead, scream until your throat is raw and see if anyone comes to save you!"
Egger spoke harshly. Feeling the hilt of Needle through her clothes, he realized the blade was tucked into her trousers but couldn't tell if it was safely sheathed. Fearing that in the struggle the blade might slip and cut her, he steeled himself, tucked her upper body under his arm, and—raising his hand—delivered a sharp smack.
Slap! Slap! Two crisp sounds rang out. The Assassin's Soul the girl thought had just awakened was instantly sent to the far reaches of the earth. In the blankness of her mind, she froze for a moment, allowing him to pull the small sword, sheath and all, from beneath her clothes. A few seconds later—feeling the stinging heat on her backside and seeing Egger holding the Needle she had intended to use on the Queen—a mix of grievance and rage flooded her. She finally lost control, let out a sob, and began to cry.
"Waaa... she killed my grandfather and my uncle! You... you're treating her like a guest, what are you trying to do? Waaa... I... I'm going to tell Robb, tell mother... you're a rebel! Waaa..."
Egger also froze for a second—the skinny little girl had an unexpected bounce to her. Wait, that's not the point. Arya had made a threatening move against his guest on Night's Watch territory at Queenscrown; she had nearly ruined everything, caught red-handed with the weapon. He hadn't even scolded her yet, so why was she the one crying as if he were the bully?
Well, even though he had used such extraordinary measures out of urgent necessity to safely disarm her, he regretted it as soon as it was done. Heavens, how do you explain to a wailing little girl that those three dragons in the sky aren't vegetarians? At this moment, Arya likely only felt that he was choosing a pretty face over loyalty, hitting her for a woman he just met. No amount of logic would reach her.
"The one who killed your grandfather and uncle was the Mad King. This is his daughter. When those things happened, she wasn't even born yet!"
Egger tried his best to maintain a stern front while explaining. Seeing the girl still crying uncontrollably and fearing Daenerys might hear the noise and come out to ask who she was, he simply pulled Arya into a tight embrace. He held her fast, ignoring her energetic struggles, and shot a glare at the two guards nearby who were watching the show. He held her... and held her... several minutes passed as if until the end of time, until she was out of breath and her struggles weakened. Only when she was nearly too winded to cry did he loosen his grip slightly to let her breathe.
Once certain she lacked the energy to cause more trouble, Egger leaned down, gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with his fingers, and looked her in the eye... continuing his attempt to be reasonable.
"No matter how much you hate the Mad King's daughter, she is my guest right now. And I do not wish to see another guest of mine... just because she dislikes her, attempt to harm her in my fortress or take her life without a trial. Do you understand?"
"So... so I'm just a 'guest' to you!" Arya glared at Egger with bloodshot eyes, her voice choked with sobs. She had never felt so wronged in her life.
If you aren't my guest, what else would you be? Egger suppressed the urge to scratch his head. This wouldn't work. Using Guest Right as a grand justification worked perfectly for his subordinates, the other guests, the clansmen, or even Robb Stark—but using it on a little girl who had cast herself as a heartbroken victim? Her current mental state was completely incompatible with the logic program!
"Of course you are my guest," Egger said, quickly shifting tactics. "But unlike the Mad King's daughter, you are my favorite and most welcome guest. No matter the time or place, whenever the most beautiful girl in the North comes to visit, I may not say it out loud, but I'm always secretly happy in my heart." He held her shoulders with one hand and affectionately rubbed her tear-stained cheek with the other, lowering his voice to speak words he himself found nauseating: "But, even though you are my favorite guest and the Dragon Queen is my least favorite—she is still a guest. She enjoys the basic rights of a guest: food, shelter, and safety—guaranteed by me! If she were murdered in my castle, I would bear all the responsibility and infamy, and those three dragons would turn this place into a sea of fire. Everyone would die. Do you understand?"
"You hit me," Arya said, ignoring his explanation entirely, staring at him with resentment.
Damn! Egger thought hard for another moment, steeled himself, and pulled the girl back into his arms—this time gently. Then, he leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose.
"Do you like your Master or not? Do you want to stay with him forever?" he whispered in her ear like a devil, "Do you want me to help you find a way to get rid of that annoying fiancé? Do you still want to be the first female member of the Night's Watch?"
"You hit me!"
"If you want those things, we at least have to live safely until then!" Egger knew that making these promises was easy, but fulfilling or breaking them later would be a massive headache. However, time was short; to soothe this girl so he could go back to fooling the other Queen, he had to offer something substantial. "Now, that Queen inside has three dragons, which are the perfect weapons against the Others and the dead. I have to pretend to welcome her, to validate her, to trick her into using those dragons to help the Night's Watch fight. If you kill her now, what do I do? Do I have to find another way to deal with an army of the dead as vast as the sea?"
"You hit me..."
Bloody hell!
Egger suppressed the urge to flip her over and keep hitting her until she submitted, continuing his silver-tongued persuasion: "Don't worry! Once we've finished using the Queen, I'll kick her aside. What a piece of work she is! Flying over people's heads just because she has dragons, barging into someone's home without an invitation to eat and drink—don't you find her annoying?"
Arya's eyes wavered. She pursed her lips as if to speak, but the words that came out were the same.
"But you hit me."
His tricks exhausted, Egger reached his limit and narrowed his eyes. "What if I did hit you? If you dare to keep acting like a child and ruin an adult's plans, next time I'll strip you and hit you until you can't even sit down, only lie on your belly!"
Arya opened her red, swollen eyes wide and glared back. "Pah! You wouldn't dare!"
"Heh, you watch me!" Seeing the she-wolf's true nature return, Egger knew he had successfully calmed her. A smile touched his lips as he pulled her back into his embrace, his hand sliding wickedly toward her lower back in a playful threat. "Does it hurt? Want me to rub it for you?"
"Go away!" Arya pushed him back, wiped her tears dry, and held out her hand angrily. "I promise you, I won't kill the Mad King's daughter today. Give me back my sword!"
"I'll keep it safe for a while. I'll give it back once I'm sure you're behaving!" Egger held Needle high and called back the guard he had dismissed. "Leon, come here. Escort Lady Stark back to her room!"
"I'm not leaving without my sword!"
"That's not up to you!" Egger gave the guard a look. The guard understood, immediately taking hold of the exhausted Arya and dragging her back toward the living quarters.
Having finally soothed the still-dubious and fuming Arya—who still didn't realize she was the one in the wrong—Egger breathed a long sigh of relief. He handed Needle to another guard at the door to avoid a misunderstanding inside the tower, then stood straight before the entrance for a full minute, letting the cold wind bite his unprotected face.
With Arya's disruption, his nearly formed plan to manipulate Daenerys had been severely jumbled. But he had already kept his guest waiting; delaying any longer would invite trouble. He could only enter and improvise.
Fortunately, that was his specialty. Regaining some of his composure and state of mind, Egger took a deep breath and pushed open the door—going, as originally planned, to deal with the other difficult woman inside the tower: the Dragon Queen, Daenerys Targaryen.
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