The Intelligence Haul

After nightfall, the tavern grew loud and crowded. Many officials, nobles, and knights of King's Landing had come there to pass the time. Others treated the tavern as a place to conduct business, and private rooms had been prepared for exactly that sort of guest.

The seat Alden and Raul had taken was good during the day because it overlooked the courtyard. They could drink, eat, and watch the performances there. At night, once the stage moved to the middle of the tavern, the position became much worse.

For Alden, however, it was perfect. Directly above him were the private rooms important people rented when they wished to discuss matters.

When the tavern was built, its owner had clearly considered the problem of eavesdropping. The rooms had been constructed with materials and methods that dulled sound. Combined with the tavern's own noise, those measures were enough to keep anyone from hearing what was said inside unless the guests shouted, even if a listener pressed against the door.

Against Alden as he was now, however, those protections meant little. With his extraordinary hearing, he could still hear the conversations clearly unless the people inside deliberately lowered their voices.

More than that, the tavern's owner seemed to have kept something back for himself. Copper pipes had been buried in the walls, likely so he could listen in. The pipes amplified sound on their own, allowing Alden to hear what he wanted from the matching pipe in the wall without even needing to focus too hard.

So he spent the entire afternoon leaning near the pipe, listening. Raul sat closer to the aisle as cover, warning him whenever someone approached.

The intelligence he gained that afternoon was not especially abundant. Most conversations were about ordinary matters. Some involved small secrets of bribery and buying favor with powerful men.

Alden did not yet know what use those details might have, but he still recorded them in memory. Without pen and paper, he could not remember everything, so he chose the most useful points: which influential people in the Red Keep could be bribed, and who might help House Tyrell build connections.

Compared with the afternoon, the information became more numerous and more important once night fell and the powerful men of the Red Keep began visiting the Street of Silk for pleasure.

Two pieces of news mattered most. The first was that Lord Eddard Stark and King Robert had quarreled. Some rumors even claimed that the two had turned against each other. The supposed cause was a deep disagreement over how to deal with the surviving dragon children, though others guessed that Eddard Stark was unhappy with Robert's decision to wed Cersei Lannister.

In any case, Eddard Stark had not personally led a party to King's Landing for this major celebration of King Robert's first heir. Instead, he had sent his brother Benjen Stark, a man of the Night's Watch who had already taken the black. To many, that looked like a deliberate insult to Robert.

Word from the Red Keep said that when Robert heard this, he smashed many things in his rage. Even servants near him became targets for his temper and were beaten black and blue.

Because of that, quite a few people believed King Robert might launch a northern campaign to teach the Lord of Winterfell a lesson.

In the rooms above Alden, many merchants and powerful men secretly discussed hoarding strategic supplies, arms, and armor. It seemed they hoped to make a fortune the moment Robert announced a war against the North.

Alden knew very well that while Robert Baratheon was angry, he did not blame or hate Eddard Stark for it. A northern campaign was out of the question. He would not even truly rebuke Eddard's decision.

The friendship between Robert and Lord Eddard exceeded what ordinary people could imagine. Even after more than ten years without meeting or writing often, that friendship would not weaken in the slightest.

So the officials of the Red Keep, the powerful men, and the great merchants had all made the wrong judgment. That misjudgment might become an opportunity House Tyrell could use. How to turn it into profit, however, was a matter for people above Alden.

The second piece of information might be even more important to House Tyrell: Robert Baratheon and his brother Stannis Baratheon were at odds.

The estrangement between the two brothers was no longer confined to the Red Keep. Many outside had heard something of it.

The reason was that Stannis was dissatisfied with Robert granting Storm's End, the ancestral seat of House Baratheon, to Renly, while Stannis himself received barren Dragonstone.

In Stannis's view, he had achieved great merit in the rebellion. By holding Storm's End to the death and pinning down the Tyrell army, he allowed Robert to fight without fear of his rear, kill Prince Rhaegar on the Ruby Ford, and finally defeat the dragon kings altogether.

By both feeling and reason, Stannis believed he should have inherited Storm's End and become its lord.

Instead, he had become Lord of Dragonstone. Dragonstone had been the seat of the Targaryen heir. Now the Baratheon dynasty ruled. What did it mean to give Dragonstone to him, a Baratheon?

No matter how he considered it, Stannis felt it was the greatest insult Robert could have dealt him. So several days earlier, during a meeting of the small council, he complained directly to King Robert. Robert not only failed to comfort him, but rebuked him for failing to capture Viserys and Daenerys, the two remaining dragonspawn.

The quarrel spread quickly through King's Landing. Everyone believed Stannis and King Robert had fallen out. Someone, however, had bribed one of Stannis's servants and learned that when Stannis returned to his residence in the city, he did not curse Robert. He cursed Renly instead.

That was easy to understand. Directly cursing King Robert and venting displeasure with Robert by cursing Renly were two very different matters. Even if Robert pursued it, the punishment would not be too severe.

When Alden heard this news, he quickly understood that it should be an opportunity for House Tyrell.

He knew Stannis's loyalty to Robert Baratheon would not shift because of one quarrel or because he had been made Lord of Dragonstone. Their public break looked more like a performance to Alden, staged for the disloyal people hiding beneath King's Landing. If anyone tried to use the brothers' discord to cause trouble, they might fall straight into a deadly trap.

Compared with the relationship between Stannis and Robert, Alden cared more about Stannis's relationship with Renly. Stannis's dissatisfaction with Renly should be real.

The War of the Five Kings that would occur more than a decade later had shown that Stannis had long been deeply unhappy about Renly inheriting Storm's End, to the point of hatred.

Renly, at present, was still very weak. He needed allies to face his forceful second brother and the nobles around Storm's End, and to secure his seat as lord there. House Tyrell's appearance would be timely aid. House Tyrell, in turn, could use Renly, a Baratheon lord, as a stepping-stone to gain a voice in King's Landing.

So now was the best time for House Tyrell to befriend Renly. As for what might happen in the future War of the Five Kings, there was no need to consider it yet. At least in Alden's view, with himself as a new variable, no one could predict how the future would change.

With these two pieces of intelligence as foundation, plus the scattered information he had gathered elsewhere, Alden felt the task was nearly complete. He relaxed, finally taking time to taste the food and tease Glory, who had eaten and drunk its fill.

He also allowed Raul, whose nerves had been tight all day, to relax and ordered him a bottle of wine from the Arbor.

It was the lowest grade of Arbor wine sold by the tavern, yet it still cost two gold dragons. It was by far the most expensive wine Raul had ever drunk. As a result, he abandoned the way he had gulped mead all afternoon and now held the cup with great care, sipping a little at a time for fear of drinking too quickly.

Alden smiled at the sight. "You need not be so careful with it. When we leave, we can take another bottle."

Raul hurriedly shook his head. "No need. This is not wine meant for men like me."

Seeing Raul refuse, Alden did not force him. He sat a while longer. When he felt there was nothing fresh left to hear, he tucked Glory, who had begun tearing at his clothes, back into the pouch and prepared to end the mission and leave.

For some reason, his body suddenly stilled. Surprise flashed across his face. Then he sat back down, leaned once more against the wall near the copper pipe, patted Glory at his chest to keep it still, and signaled Raul to stand watch. His full attention returned to listening.

He changed his mind because, just then, he had heard several voices in the corridor above. One of those voices belonged to Petyr Baelish, Littlefinger.

Alden naturally paid attention to a hidden hand like Petyr Baelish, a man who would influence the course of the Seven Kingdoms. In the discussions he remembered from his former world, many of the most heated arguments had been about Littlefinger. From a bystander's perspective, there was no denying the man possessed a dangerous charm.

Because of those old discussions, Alden understood Littlefinger extremely well. One might even say he understood him better than Littlefinger understood himself.

Before coming to King's Landing, Alden had imagined meeting Varys, another hidden hand, but he had not expected to encounter Littlefinger. As far as he knew, at this point Petyr should still have been a tax collector in Gulltown. Only after raising revenues tenfold and making an eye-catching achievement would Jon Arryn transfer him to King's Landing.

So when Alden first heard someone say "Lord Petyr," he was surprised and even thought it might be another man with the same name. Only when that person said this Lord Petyr had already shipped a cargo to Gulltown to help increase tax revenue did Alden confirm that the Lord Petyr above him was indeed Littlefinger.

Listening through the copper pipe, Alden discovered that Todd's Pumpkin belonged to Littlefinger. Several other taverns and brothels on the Street of Silk were also secretly his. Clearly, Petyr had already begun placing pieces in King's Landing.

When Alden learned that he was in the world of ice and fire and began considering his future path, he had once made a list. It contained people he could use, people he could not use, people he could befriend, people he must not befriend, and even the most dangerous people of all. Petyr Baelish was on that last list.

Alden felt that even with the advantage of foreknowledge, he had no confidence he could outmaneuver a political schemer of Littlefinger's level. Back then, he had already decided that if he ever truly became Littlefinger's enemy, the correct choice would be to stop thinking, ignore the consequences, and kill him outright.

Now the first important person Alden had ever wanted to kill on his own initiative had appeared before him in this way. He could only marvel at the humor of fate.

Through eavesdropping, Alden learned that Littlefinger had come secretly to King's Landing to meet someone. The person he wanted to meet was interesting: Janos Slynt, the current commander of the City Watch.

Although Janos Slynt commanded the largest permanent military force in King's Landing, his social standing was not high. In the eyes of the officials and nobles of the Red Keep, this butcher's son was no more than their watchdog. Littlefinger, however, did not seem to see him that way. He saw the enormous profits hidden inside the power Janos Slynt controlled.

Inside the room, Littlefinger gave the tavern manager several instructions, then sent him away. After leaving, the manager ordered the rooms on either side of Littlefinger's chamber cleared and placed men in the corridor to prevent eavesdropping.

Before long, Janos Slynt arrived as agreed.

Alden had thought the two men might be plotting some grand conspiracy. After listening for a while, he discovered that Littlefinger had slipped into King's Landing to see Janos Slynt for smuggling.

Littlefinger had a batch of goods from the Free Cities that needed to be unloaded in King's Landing. Based on the value of the goods, he would have to pay a large tax. He did not want to pay it, so he came to Janos Slynt and hoped the commander of the City Watch would help him.

The taxes at the docks did not fall under Janos Slynt's authority, but dockside order did. With his position, helping Littlefinger smuggle goods in was not difficult. From their conversation, it was also clear that they had worked together more than once already.

"I am curious what sort of goods could make you come personally, Lord Petyr," Janos Slynt's voice sounded through the pipe. His duck-like rasp was so unpleasant and distinctive that a man remembered it after hearing it once.

"Small things from across the water," Littlefinger said, without explaining. Then he emphasized, "They are meant for important people in the Red Keep. I imagine, Commander Slynt, that you..."

"Do not worry. I am not interested in the goods. So long as they do not cause trouble for me, and so long as you can pay enough, Lord Petyr, that is enough." Greed filled Janos Slynt's voice. "This time I want double. Paid now."

After the commander finished speaking, a long while passed before Littlefinger answered. "Very well. But before delivery, the goods will remain in a warehouse at the docks. You must be responsible for their safety."

"Agreed," Janos Slynt said without hesitation.

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