[DAVOS stows the oars and enters the water to lead the boat to shore. He pulls it onto the shore.]
"Do you love your wife?"
"I do."
"Yet you have known other women."
"Don't talk about my wife."
[DAVOS secures the boat on the shore.]
"I'm not. I'm talking about other women. Like me, Ser Davos. You want me. You want to see what's beneath this robe."
[DAVOS does not respond.]
Renly snorts.
"A man through and through."
"You speak as if you want something different, brother" Stannis threw out almost defensively... almost.
Renly's face sobered at that.
"And you will."
[MELISANDRE turns to grab something from the boat. DAVOS leads MELISANDRE through a cave, bearing a lantern.]
"Strange that this Lord of Light asks you to work in the shadows."
"Shadows cannot live in the dark, Ser Davos. They are servants of light, the children of fire. And the brighter the flame, the darker they are."
"Wouldn't shadows be the reason for darkness, other than a lack of light?" Myrcella asked her uncle Tyrion.
"They would be" Tyrion answered.
"Then why does she think otherwise?"
"A fanatic often seeks comfort in their beliefs by seeing a reason that does not exist. They are crazy like that."
Myrcella nodded, lips pursed in thought.
[DAVOS holds up the lantern to bars that obstruct their way.]
"These weren't here before. They've barred the passage."
"They can't bar our passage."
[MELISANDRE has disrobed, arms outstretched, revealing a swollen, fully pregnant belly. DAVOS is shocked at this sudden change.]
"She wasn't pregnant last we saw her... She shouldn't be this far along after that one time with Stannis" Renly commented, his tone dry.
Stannis' eyes narrowed at the wall.
"Gods protect us."
"There's only one god, Ser Davos, and he only protects those who serve him."
[The lantern flares suddenly, surprising DAVOS, who retreats. MELISANDRE sits down behind him and assumes a birthing position. She moans in pain as she gives birth. DAVOS watches in apprehension. MELISANDRE screams, and a foul spirit crawls from between her legs. It gathers strength and roars as it expands and takes to the air.]
"Seven save us all! A demon!"
Horror was etched on the faces of everyone watching, the more pious ones muttering prayers and chants. It was not like they were surprised by magic, hell they were in a place only magic can create. No, they were surprised by the creation of a demon, and that too with the face of Stannis Baratheon.
"What did you do?!" Robert roared in anger.
"I-" the words died in Stannis' throat. Even he was shocked by what he was seeing, a demon with his face... A son... that's what that red witch had promised him. But this?!
"Father has not done anything!" Shireen stood in defence of her father. "This hasn't happened! He had done nothing!"
The King and his niece stared at one another and Robert had to respect the spine the usually timid girl was showing. Jon Arryn put a hand on Robert's arm and told him to sit down. And once the King had taken his seat, Shireen stared at everyone else.
"My father has done nothing!"
Nobody spoke and Stannis urged his daughter to sit. Shireen listened, but she was still glaring at them all. Stannis put an arm around his daughter's shoulder and held her close.
[SHADOWLANDS, RENLY'S TENT, NIGHT]
[The camp is alive with activity, despite the late hour. Soldiers move in every direction. KING RENLY BARATHEON and LADY CATELYN STARK are seated across from one another while LADY BRIENNE OF TARTH stands at guard.]
Renly's eyes widened but a fraction. No... his brother would never... They may not like each other much, but Stannis would never kill him.
"You swear it?"
"By the mother. My son has no interest in the Iron Throne."
[RENLY takes a long sip of wine.]
"Then I see no reason for hostility between us. Your son can go on calling himself King in the North. The Starks will have dominion over all lands north of Moat Cailin, provided he swears me an oath of fealty."
"So just the North, not the Riverlands" Lyanna murmured.
"The Riverlands would do better under Baratheon rule than Lannister rule" Catelyn muttered to her.
Lyanna nodded with pursed lips.
"And the wording of this oath?"
"The same Ned Stark swore to Robert eighteen years ago. Cat, their friendship held the kingdoms together."
"A good oath to swear" Ned nodded. He remembered the oath well like he'd sworn it just yesterday.
"And in return for my son's loyalty?"
"In the morning, I'll destroy my brother's army."
Renly sits in tense silence, not unnoticed by the rest.
"When that's done, Baratheon and Stark will fight their common enemy together, as they have done many times before."
[RENLY walks across the tent. BRIENNE removes his cloak.]
"Our two houses have always been close, which is why I am begging you to reconsider this battle. Negotiate a peace with your brother."
"Negotiate with Stannis? You heard him out there. I'd have better luck debating the wind."
[BRIENNE continues to remove RENLY's armour.]
"Please bring my terms to your son. I believe we are natural allies. I hope he feels the same. Together we could end this war in a fortnight"
[The wind howls, and a dark cloud of mist races into the tent. CATELYN watches it cross the floor. BRIENNE gasps as a dark spirit takes form from the mist, rising behind RENLY. The dark spirit stabs RENLY in the back, through the heart. RENLY gasps and the spirit hisses. The dark spirit dissipates into a wind as RENLY starts to collapse.]
Renly stood as the rest stared in shock and horror.
"You preach about what is right and honourable, but you would use dark magic to kill me instead of meeting me in open battle. You would kill your brother! Kinslayer!" he spat.
Renly rushed out of the hall, ignoring all the rest and went straight to his chambers.
Wrong answer by Renly Baratheon and Stannis Baratheon both lose the chance to answer the next two questions.
Congratulations to Jon Snow for the right answer. He gains a pocket dimension under his command.
"Hiss..." Jon Snow took a deep breath in surprise as he felt the method of opening the pocket dimension entering his mind.
Jon didn't even need to open the pocket dimension to look inside it and find out that it's really a dimension and not a pocket space he thought it was.
"Damn I can even store living beans in it and even farm in it, seriously this is too overpowered." Jon Snow mumbles to himself.
Back in his room Renly paced, he screamed and he threw things around in anger, but most of all he cried. He cried from frustration, from anger, from hurt. His brother, his own brother would kill him over a throne! It was one thing to kill him in battle, something Renly would have accepted, but this? Not this. This abomination.
The doors to his chambers opened and swung around, ready to curse out whoever it was that walked in.
It was Robert, his eldest brother.
"If you're here to defend that... that thing! I want you to leave!" Renly screamed.
Robert said nothing, taking hold of the wine jug, filling a cup and holding it out to him.
Renly slapped it away.
"Not everything can be cured with wine, Robert!"
"No, but it will dull the pain" Robert grunted.
Angrily Renly stared at him before he took the offered glass and inhaled the drink.
"This won't get me drunk."
"Then you keep drinking until it does."
"No, the wine here doesn't get you drunk."
Robert grunted.
"I'd forgotten that."
Renly snorted, before he broke into peels of laughter, Robert joining him.
"He fucking kills me with black magic! Stannis Baratheon the righteous kills me with black magic!" Renly wheezed before the laugh died and he was simply staring at his brother.
"It was the red woman."
"Robert you can't be-"
"You know Stannis better than I do. You tell me, would Stannis ever do that if he's in full control of his actions?"
There was a tense silence.
"We must keep the red woman away from Stannis. I'll go as far as to ban that religion in Westeros and order a kill on sight for any priests. I'll make sure Stannis doesn't fall off his high horse and you don't get stabbed by a fucking shadow."
"You're doing a lot for Stannis and me. How brotherly of you."
"Better to start now than let it be too late. Now stop throwing a tantrum like a woman and continue to watch with us" Robert grunted.
Renly rolled his eyes but followed Robert back out. The two took their seats in silence. Neither met the looks thrown at him, especially Stannis' who was trying to get Renly's attention in his own stoic way.