All You Need Is Guts Chapter 2 (ASOIAF x Berserk) (Patreon)

Otto Hightower

“Rhaenrya!” the king for all his faults never had a problem with being heard, but Otto doubted that the princess would listen to him.

Viserys stared at the door and then sighed he grabbed the letter that Rhaenrya had thrown at him and smiled with tears in his eyes, lost in the words that were written there.

Otto was thinking about more important things, like the effect a bastard would have on the politics across the realm and what would happen if he got a dragon. Things had to be settled before anything could be done about him, besides, the man might not even be Viserys’s child, what woman would raise a child on her own when she could have easily gotten help from the crown?

In Otto’s mind, it was becoming more and more clear that the man couldn’t be the son of the king.

“We will depart to Dragonstone within the hour, I want no delays, also, send a message to my brother I want him on Dragonstone too.” The small council remained seated unable to process what the king had just said, and Otto despaired at the possibility of seeing Daemon again, he had prayed for his death every day since he left to fight in the Stepstones, a man like that was too dangerous to be left alive “Well, what are you waiting for we’re leaving”

The lack of a response from the other councilors didn’t please Viserys who rammed his hand against a table to get their attention “Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough; I will be leaving and if you don’t come with me then I don’t want to see you once I get back”

Quickly chairs scrapped the floor as the others hurried to prepare what the King asked for, luckily the Septon didn’t mention anything about the fact that the King had a bastard, otherwise it would be Otto’s job to tell the Faithful why one of their died at the hands of the King.

“Your Grace…” perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to tell the king what he thought about the bastard but he had to act before Viserys did something that would cause further problems later.

“What?!” the usually affable man looked like he was about to start smashing chairs or heads and that didn’t bode well for the realm.

“Your Grace, I know that your temper is running hot but…”

“Spit out Otto, We’re wasting time!”

“Have…have you considered the possibility that this Baelon may not be your son,” Viserys stilled and looked at him in the eye, the purple orbs could have been spewing fire but Otto knew that if he stopped right now then the king wouldn’t listen later, regardless of his displeasure it was his duty to speak up “There is no reason for any woman to not come forward if they had the child of a prince or a king, it doesn’t make sense, and I believe you have to prepare yourself for disappointment.”

Viserys stomped his way towards Otto until they were face to face with each other, the king walked with his hand on the hilt of Blackfyre and for the first time in his life, Otta truly feared Viserys Targaryen.

“The only reason I don’t send you back to Old Town in disgrace is that I know you speak out of concern, but, if I ever hear you speak something like that again I will send you back without a tongue” there was a tense silence in the room as everyone feared pulling the king’s ire to themselves but once Viserys crossed the door with his Kingsguard behind him they all collectively let out a sigh of relief.

“It seems like the king will not listen to any of us in this matter,” the voice of Eustace broke the silence as he grabbed his books from the table “we can only pray that the king doesn’t forget the nature of bastards”

The ever-loyal Lord Strong bristled at the Septon’s words but refused to comment as he proceeded to write the message which would bring Daemon back into the Seven Kingdoms.

“We better hurry, the king must be making his way to the docks as we speak” with those words Lord Strong left the room.

Otto wanted to tell the news to his daughter himself but there was no time and while not pregnant he knew that Alicent remained very emotional, and in her state, Alicent might say something to the king about his bastard, souring their relationship and worsening the chances of Aegon to take the throne.

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The trip to Dragonstone usually takes about three days, the sailors in charge of getting the king to his new son used every current and sailor to maximize speed and got the king there in two days, two horrible days of an irate Viserys.

Two days in which the king barely remembered that he had three infant children back in King’s Landing and a wife that he didn’t even bother informing of his departure. Every day he heard the sailors speak of the bastard and how much the king cared for him, and some had whispered that perhaps the King would grant him the name Targaryen.

Otto would do everything in his power to make sure that didn’t happen, even if he had to bribe every single one of the most devout and the High Septon, he would die before calling the bastard a prince, it was already bad enough to call Daemon a prince.

Before the ship had even ducked properly the King was already making his way down followed by the kingsguard, Otto didn’t want to be left behind, so he followed suit, cursing as his legs hit wood beneath him Otto wondered how the fat king was walking so fast and was also seemingly unbothered by the jump off the ship.

They all made their way into the castle proper and after waving away all the ceremony the king made his way into the maester’s abode where the bastard was resting.

Otto’s breath hitched when he saw Baelon, it was like looking into the past there was no doubt that this was the King’s son, he shared the more robust build of the king and his face was similar to his when he was younger, he was taller than Viserys though and his hair had a prominent streak of white that denoted his Valyrian blood.

As they got closer to the bed Otto saw the way the flesh of his eye was melted together, the man, for there was no doubt that he had passed his sixteenth year, was also seemingly resting without trouble despite his injuries.

“Did he wake up yet?” the king spoke as if afraid of the answer, but the smile of the master told Otto that things were not as dire as they looked

“He woke up before, disoriented and ready to fight, he barely remembered killing the dragon” the cheerful tone and smile on the face of the master disappeared as Viserys stared at him.

“What?!” for the first time in a while the small council was in synch as they all asked at the same time.

“Di-Did the princess not tell you?”

“You can’t expect us to believe he killed the dragon!” the voice of Lord Strong voiced Otto’s own opinion and he was thankful to him perhaps for the first time as the hand of the king would rather not say anything negative about the bastard in front of the king.

“It is no jest my Lord, Baelon here killed the dragon that had assailed the town with a multitude of people present to see it” the master then gestured to the guards who came into the room holding something bundled.

The maester pealed away the cloth to reveal something that could barely be called a sword, it was too big to be one, and if the way the guards strained to carry it was any indication, it would be impossible for any man to wield it.

“It took us a full day before we were able to remove it, after that there was a bit of a panic because the corpse of the dragon was taken by the Cannibal, but he left quickly after taking a bite out of it”

“HAHAHAHA” the king started laughing like a mad man before calming himself, his voice was barely above a whisper, but all could hear him ask “His mother is dead, isn’t she?”

“She is, it was the reason he went looking for the dragon in the first place, the dragon took his mother’s body”

The king’s shoulders dropped, and Otto gave a silent thanks to the Seven, another woman, even if she was one of the smallfolk would have thrown his plans into further disarray.

“Leave me all of you” the maester and the kingsguard obeyed instantly, the castle’s guards took a moment to rest before they left, but the members of the small council hesitated, it was already bad enough that they had left King’s Landing without supervision if their work continued to be interrupted…

“I said leave! leave before I find myself a new council”

Otto needed to be on the King’s good side, so he relented and moved out of the room.

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It wasn’t until the sun set that Otto decided to brave the journey back to where the king was, the looming halls of Dragonstone weren’t to his tastes, but he could appreciate the care with which everything was crafted, putting aside the useless thoughts, Otto stood outside the door when he heard a crash coming from inside the room.

Otto could barely discern some of the words used but he had no trouble in listening as a voice that was more than likely Baelon shouted out “You’re no father of mine!”

In one quick movement, Otto got away from the door, and the sudden crash of it against the wall told him it was a good idea, Baelon came out of the room, still bandaged and wounded he walked into the hallway and after giving Otto a dismissive grunt Baelon left.

The bastard was taller than he thought and seemingly cared nothing for niceties as he bumped Otto’s shoulder almost sending him tumbling to the ground.

The hand of the king entered the room and saw Viserys drinking deeply from a bottle seemingly without care.

“Your grace, I was coming to see if you had new orders, but I think it’s best if I leave”

“Otto, wait,” the king looked at him with water in his eyes “do you think I’m a bad father?”

Objectively Otto didn’t think the king was a bad father, maybe an indolent one but not necessarily bad, he wasn’t about to insult Viserys though “I think you’re a great father your Grace, rarely does a man care about his natural born children”

“Baelon doesn’t think so, he doesn’t want anything to do with me, he would prefer to simply be Baelon and nothing more”

Otto cheered in his head, the only thing left was for a messenger to come bearing the news of Daemon’s death for him to live happy forever more “Perhaps is best for you to give him time, his mother just died”

“Yes, you’re right, once he finishes grieving I’m sure he will come to King’s landing with us” Otto used every trick he had learned to maintain a smiling face as he heard the King’s wishes “He is a true dragon, he reminds me of when I was young, so opinionated and strong.”

Privately Otto doubted that the king was as strong as the bastard, even with barely a look Otto had seen just how muscled the man was, he was more beast than man with the way he moved too.

“I just hope Rhaerya will not bear a grudge toward him for my actions, I left her without speaking about what she learned but she is always so hard to talk to and it always hurts when she speaks as if I will put her aside for Aegon”

The best thing to do when you didn’t know what to say was simply to nod along to what the other person said, it had served Otto well when he was a boy following his father around his home and it was also what eventually got him the high station he now had.

The sound of someone running to them alerted both the King and Otto that something was happening, the aged visage of Harrold Westerling had never looked as bad as it did now.

“The Cannibal is on top of the castle and your son has gone to fight him, he took back his sword and was about to leave for the town when Cannibal arrived, I tried to stop him but he…he overpowered me”

Clearly, he had underestimated him but at least this new player in the game would disappear soon enough, it was one thing to kill a young dragon, not easy by any means but doable with enough men or a lot of luck. Cannibal was a beast on a different level and again Otto thanked the Seven for their quick response to his payers.

Viserys took off running and Otto cursed, if the king died right now it would be very difficult to put Aegon on the throne, nobody wanted a baby king and no great house would accede to have him as the regent, the rest of the nobility whispered about the amount of power the Hightower’s had accumulated during Viserys reign, if he died they could try to gain power through Rhaerya destroying a plan that has been years in the making.

“Your Grace wait for me” Harrold screamed as he followed his king and soon Otto did the same, after several minutes of nonstop running they arrived at the place where Baelon was staring down the Cannibal, Otto’s heart almost stopped as he saw Baelon point his sword at the dragon’s mouth only to receive a roar in response, it was so loud that the hand of the king would swear he felt it in his bones.

“Baelon wait!” the king screamed as he saw his son start running in the dragon’s direction, Cannibal’s wings flapped sending a gust of air so powerful that Otto almost fell but did little to inconvenience the bastard who roared in response as he charged the beast.

The last thing Otto saw was the figure of Baelon stabbing that piece of metal he called a sword into Cannibal’s side as the dragon started flying.