Duty or Desire // Jon Snow // Robb Stark

56. Oberyn

"We met, you and I. Many years ago." Oberyn told Tyrion.

"I think I would have remembered that." Tyrion said distractedly.

"Unlikely. You had just been born. Our father brought me and my sister Elia with him on a visit to Casterly Rock. My first time away from Dorne. I didn't like anything about the Rock. Not the food, not the weather, not your accents. Nothing. But the biggest disappointment, you." Oberyn informed him.

"You and my family have more in common than you might admit." Tyrion told him.

"The whole way from Dorne all anyone talked about was the monster that had been born to Tywin Lannister. A head twice the size of his body, a tail between his legs, claws, one red eye, the privates of both a girl and a boy." Oberyn went on Tyrion looked up at him with a chuckle

"That would have made things so much easier." Tyrion joked lightly.

"When we met your sister, she promised she would show you to us. Every day we would ask to see the monster. Every day she would say, "Soon." Then she and your brother took us to your nursery and... she unveiled the freak. Your head was a bit large. Your arms and legs were a bit small, but no claws. No red eye. No tail between your legs. Just a tiny pink cock. We didn't try to hide our disappointment. "That's not a monster," I told Cersei, "that's just a baby." And she said, "He killed my mother. And she pinched your little cock so hard, I thought she might pull it off. Until your brother made her stop. "It doesn't matter," she told us. "Everyone says he will die soon, I hope they are right; he should not have lived this long."" Tyrion let out a sharp breath, cersei had always hated him.

"Well... sooner or later, Cersei always gets what she wants." Tyrion remarked.

"And what about what I want? Justice for my sister and her children." Oberyn informed him.

"If you want justice, you've come to the wrong place." Tyrion told him

"I disagree. I've come to the perfect place. I want to bring those who have wronged me to justice, and all those who have wronged me are right here. I will begin with Ser Gregor Clegane, who killed my sister's children and then raped her with their blood still on his hands before killing her, too." Tyrion held his breath not daring to believe what he was about to say, "I will be your champion."

++++

'Say her name! You raped her! You murdered her! You killed her children! Say it! Say her name!" they waited anxiously for Oberyn to finish off Gregor Clegane. Oberyn smiled over at Elliara, his paramour.

"Say it!" Oberyn demanded but he got too close to Gregor. Gregor tripped him over. A gasp escaped Elliara's lips as Oberyn started to get up, but Gregor grabbed his throat and punched him in the mouth, breaking his teeth. Eliana gasped out for her lover. Oberyn slumped down stunned, his mouth bleeding. But Gregor was on top of Oberyn, grabbing his head with his massive hands, forcing his large thumbs into Oberyns eyes, gouging them. Oberyn screamed in agony. Eliara felt faint, her heart pounding in her chest so loud, so hard she thought it would explode.

'"Elia Martell!' Gregor said finally. 'I killed her children! Then I raped her! Then I smashed her head in like this!" Gregor Clegane roared with laughter, then crushed Oberyn's skull between his huge fists with a sickening thump. Ellaria screamed out in horror. Gregor, severely injured, collapsed next to his dead opponent. A stunned silence swept over the crowd. But a smirk appeared on a very triumphant Cersei. Tyrion closed his eyes, unable to believe that his champion was killed so close to victory. Tywin stood turning to the crowd. Ellaria stood speechless, sobbing, her lover couldn't be dead. He couldn't.

"The gods have made their will known. Tyrion Lannister, in the name of King Tommen of the House Baratheon, First of his Name, you are hereby sentenced to death."

Tyrion couldn't speak, he stared in astonishment at Oberyn's dead body.

+++

'Oh, get on with it you son of a whore." Tyrion snapped his eyes open when Jaime asked

'is that was a way to talk about our mother?' Jaime questioned with a chuckle. Jaime let Tyrion out of the cell, Tyrion followed obediently.

'What are you doing?' Tyrion was shocked to hear that his brother was saving him. "Who's helping you?'

'You have more friends than you think.' Jaime added

'Who?'

'Varys.' jaime answered. So Tyrion was off, to find a new life somewhere where the Lannister name wasn't corrupted perhaps. But first he needed to settle things with his father.