Carliene Stark

II Chapter 11

Carliene

The beginning of our voyage was horrendous, at least for me. Hours before our departure I had had the chance to ask Lord Tyrion wether the letter I had written to Jon had had a reply yet and he told me that an envoy had been sent by my brother to treat with the queen. I was near speechless as I stood there, staring down the long winding steps and the many men heading down towards the harbour to prepare for the journey.

"I believe it said something about wanting to mine the dragonglass beneath the fortress" he added confused and sounding a little curious.

I wanted to scream I wanted to turn away and run back into the castle and hide inside my room. Here I was being shipped off to the Reach when my kinsmen were on their way here.

Even so I found myself with Olenna Tyrell at my arm, helping her down the many steps towards the ships. In a new dress that pulled and pinched me at every movement.

I had wanted to complain, but thinking back to it it felt almost like someone had locked me into my own body, pushing my opinions to the back of my mind and just keeping me moving forward and keeping me silent. 

In the coming days I would not have much time to sulk as I was too occupied with being sick. The Narrow Sea was haunted by autumn storms and quite treacherous to pass at this season, which did not help my constitution and many a day I believed to be my last. If the waves didn't turn over the boat or Euron Greyjoys fleet attacked us, then starvation would surely get me. All I could do was lay in the small bed of my cabin or be bent over a bucket that could easily be collected by Elyn and dumped over board. Anything I ate landed in the ocean eventually and I was certain that the queen of thorns was regretting whatever bargain she had struck with Daenerys Targaryen to take me along.

Arriving at Sunspear gave me a day of relief. The ship was docked outside of the harbour as Yara's fleet split from ours. The waves were gentler here and our vessel swayed only slightly. I was still nauseous and my head felt dizzy when I rose but my curiosity caused me to pull myself together and climb up on deck. 

Immediately I had to cover my eyes with my hand as they were not used to the brightness of the sun after I-don't-know-how-may-days in my small cabin. 

The sailors were too busy rushing across the deck to pay me any mind. A smaller galley swam adjacent to our ship and I noticed that barrels and bundles were loaded from it to ours. Somewhere someone was driving nails into wood and someone was yelling an oder at someone up on the mast. 

As my eyes adjusted I gazed over the deck and towards the horizon where Sunspear lay. Even from this distance I could make out the multiple massive walls and the strange shape the castle at the very top had. Most notable were the two towers though, one thin and long and the other large and domed. Nestled against the castle walls and around the bay was a city. The shadow city, I recalled. Though I could not quite remember why it had that name, from this distance it looked more like a pile of dirty rocks leaning against the light coloured stone of the castle. The lands surrounding it were yellow and brown and even from this distance I could imagine what heat must reside there. 

The ship swayed again and I swayed along with it, quickly stepping up to the nearest mast and holding onto it. My stomach twisted again. 

"Lady Carliene" Ser Vortimer seemed cheery as ever. "It is nice to see you out in the fresh air"

"I thought we wanted to dock at Sunspear" I stated, gazing around at the rest of the Targaryen fleet that still surrounded us. 

He stepped up beside me and followed my gaze. "The autumn storms have been very unkind to us, we were blown off course and it added a day to our travels so it was decided that we would only restock and then continue on with no further delay" he explained.