(no subject)
Light was breaking, but all that meant was that Cersei no longer had anywhere to hide.
She had awoken hours before dawn in her hut on the beach. That there was a commotion outside was clear, but she could barely concentrate on it for all the rotting smell of incense that filled her home.
Maggy was standing over her. She smiled. "Are you brave enough to have your fortune told, my girl?"
Every muscle in Cersei's body tensed, but she merely narrowed her eyes. "Who sent you?" she snapped, all queen even as she banished sleep and got to her feet. "I warn you now, old woman, I have friends. Dangerous friends. They will hunt you-"
The woman did not seem to hear her. "Are you brave enough to have your fortune told?" The woman suddenly produced a knife, and something in the glint in her eye made Cersei lose all strength. "Go," she all but screamed, "go with your lies of destruction and leave me be!"
But Maggy approached, knife raised. Cersei ran.
She had been running since. The other creatures did not frighten her, all her terror was saved for words she had first heard as a child. But every time she thought she had found a safe place, every time she thought she finally had a corner dark enough, the woman would appear.
Now the sky was lightening. She was at the pool of water where she had so often found comfort, but it looked red in the reflection of the rising sun. And Maggy still bore down on her. Cersei was trapped.
She was backed up against a rock when the fortune teller kneeled in front of her, snatching her hand and slicing across her palm. The knife burned, and as her blood dribbled to the ground, the words she had been waiting for were spoken.
"Queen you shall be . . . until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear. Will you have children? Six-and-ten for him, and three for you. Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," she said. "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."
"All lies," Cersei hissed. And louder. "All lies! I have my thrown and I shall have it again, and no doddering old woman will stop me! When I return, you shall die a slow and painful death. I know just the man to bestow it..."
"The valonqar," Maggy repeated, not listening. Cersei's temper raged.
"Yes!" she screamed. "And my little twisted brother will pay for his crimes, oh yes, he will pay. For those he plots as well as those he has already committed against my child and my throne."
"The valonqar. You are the eldest Lannister, Queen. Didn't I promise?" A light sparked as the fortune teller snapped her fingers, growing into a vision, and suddenly Cersei did not know what was real and what was not, what was tangible and what was in her head.
Jamie was there. It was dark, and blood was dripping from the stump of his arm. She screamed his name, but then it was gone. He was in his white-cloaked finery now, still crippled but healed, reading a letter. She knew without being told that it was from her. The words seemed to burn on the page, so that even though she stood behind him, they glowed visible to her.
I need you now as I have never needed you before. I love you, I love you, I love you.
What had made her write such a thing? What terror was being shown? What monstrous lies was the woman now filling her head with?
Jamie crumpled up the letter and tossed it into the fire.
She laughed. "Oh, how you choose to toy with me, woman? Showing me nonsensical visions without a grain of truth?" the queen shouted to the heavens.
Another vision flashed - she was standing in the sept in the dress she had arrived in, shouting and being dragged away. Another, brief, a dreadfully familiar Margery looking smug, a third - a flash of fire and crackling paper.
And then suddenly she was back in the jungle. Her hand where it had been cut ached once again, screams and shouts of the surrounding island filled her ears. She was on her hands and knees, how she had gotten there she could not remember. And before her, slightly stained and crumpled, but perfectly readable, was the letter she had seen in Jamie's hand.
The letter she had seen Jamie destroy. The knot that had always held her to her twin began to tear once and for all. Cersei imagined she could hear the ripping above even the sound of the chaos surrounding her.
"And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."" Maggy was standing in front of her, chanting the words slowly. Once she had finished, her lips curved into a smile. "Didn't I promise?"
Cersei laughed. She laughed, and laughed, until it was no longer laughter but a strange wail. "You lie!" she screamed and leapt up to attack the woman who had been sent to haunt her and tell her that her love had betrayed her.
But where she landed there was nothing but rotting leaves and the sound of triumphant laughter was all that was left of Maggy the Frog.
She had awoken hours before dawn in her hut on the beach. That there was a commotion outside was clear, but she could barely concentrate on it for all the rotting smell of incense that filled her home.
Maggy was standing over her. She smiled. "Are you brave enough to have your fortune told, my girl?"
Every muscle in Cersei's body tensed, but she merely narrowed her eyes. "Who sent you?" she snapped, all queen even as she banished sleep and got to her feet. "I warn you now, old woman, I have friends. Dangerous friends. They will hunt you-"
The woman did not seem to hear her. "Are you brave enough to have your fortune told?" The woman suddenly produced a knife, and something in the glint in her eye made Cersei lose all strength. "Go," she all but screamed, "go with your lies of destruction and leave me be!"
But Maggy approached, knife raised. Cersei ran.
She had been running since. The other creatures did not frighten her, all her terror was saved for words she had first heard as a child. But every time she thought she had found a safe place, every time she thought she finally had a corner dark enough, the woman would appear.
Now the sky was lightening. She was at the pool of water where she had so often found comfort, but it looked red in the reflection of the rising sun. And Maggy still bore down on her. Cersei was trapped.
She was backed up against a rock when the fortune teller kneeled in front of her, snatching her hand and slicing across her palm. The knife burned, and as her blood dribbled to the ground, the words she had been waiting for were spoken.
"Queen you shall be . . . until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear. Will you have children? Six-and-ten for him, and three for you. Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," she said. "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."
"All lies," Cersei hissed. And louder. "All lies! I have my thrown and I shall have it again, and no doddering old woman will stop me! When I return, you shall die a slow and painful death. I know just the man to bestow it..."
"The valonqar," Maggy repeated, not listening. Cersei's temper raged.
"Yes!" she screamed. "And my little twisted brother will pay for his crimes, oh yes, he will pay. For those he plots as well as those he has already committed against my child and my throne."
"The valonqar. You are the eldest Lannister, Queen. Didn't I promise?" A light sparked as the fortune teller snapped her fingers, growing into a vision, and suddenly Cersei did not know what was real and what was not, what was tangible and what was in her head.
Jamie was there. It was dark, and blood was dripping from the stump of his arm. She screamed his name, but then it was gone. He was in his white-cloaked finery now, still crippled but healed, reading a letter. She knew without being told that it was from her. The words seemed to burn on the page, so that even though she stood behind him, they glowed visible to her.
I need you now as I have never needed you before. I love you, I love you, I love you.
What had made her write such a thing? What terror was being shown? What monstrous lies was the woman now filling her head with?
Jamie crumpled up the letter and tossed it into the fire.
She laughed. "Oh, how you choose to toy with me, woman? Showing me nonsensical visions without a grain of truth?" the queen shouted to the heavens.
Another vision flashed - she was standing in the sept in the dress she had arrived in, shouting and being dragged away. Another, brief, a dreadfully familiar Margery looking smug, a third - a flash of fire and crackling paper.
And then suddenly she was back in the jungle. Her hand where it had been cut ached once again, screams and shouts of the surrounding island filled her ears. She was on her hands and knees, how she had gotten there she could not remember. And before her, slightly stained and crumpled, but perfectly readable, was the letter she had seen in Jamie's hand.
The letter she had seen Jamie destroy. The knot that had always held her to her twin began to tear once and for all. Cersei imagined she could hear the ripping above even the sound of the chaos surrounding her.
"And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."" Maggy was standing in front of her, chanting the words slowly. Once she had finished, her lips curved into a smile. "Didn't I promise?"
Cersei laughed. She laughed, and laughed, until it was no longer laughter but a strange wail. "You lie!" she screamed and leapt up to attack the woman who had been sent to haunt her and tell her that her love had betrayed her.
But where she landed there was nothing but rotting leaves and the sound of triumphant laughter was all that was left of Maggy the Frog.