The Dragonbone Black Market

Maekar made a show of frowning, as though he was sorely disapppointed by the price, though in truth it was very near what he had hoped to get. That much gold would easily maintain him for the rest of his life, unless he was a great fool or began to live sorely beyond his means. Since he was already supported by a small stipend from the King as well as the incomes from his estates in the Crownlands, this gain would simply be a bonus on top of that, rather than being required for his expenses.

"I accept, goodman, though you drive a hard bargain indeed. When does your ship depart port? I'll have my men begin to bring the material down to the docks by night; it would raise too many questions to do so by day. Have your people ready with the payment when I return; your men will load the packages onto your ship, though if you think the job will be done faster by directing my men to assist them, that will be perfectly all right," Maekar replied, extending his hand to shake.

"The delivery will be made in time, then. Tonight, but if we do not finish loading it tomorrow night the remainder can be done tomorrow night. I will return tomorrow with the first load, for your payment," Maekar replied, shaking the man's hand firmly. Something in his voice told the merchant that if he reneged on the deal, or tried anything shady, he would regret it for the rest of his life; and that would be a very brief time indeed.

Maekar left, and arranged the Dragonbone to be delivered that night. He accompanied the first shipment, and was accompanied by about a dozen of his hand-picked men, men who had served him since his Dornish campaign and whose loyalty he trusted implicitly. On top of that, they were each promised a large cut of the profits, Maekar highly doubted that there was a chance that they could have been bribed to betray him.

"Are you kidding me?" Maeker asked harshly, stepping right up into the officer's face. "Do you know who the fuck you are speaking to? You're lucky I convinced my brother not to put all your heads on spikes over the harbor, and now you're stopping me?"

[Apprentice Intimidation]

Maekar drops the bluster immediately when he sees it is not working. "Captain, I would much prefer if you did not do so. Perhaps you and your men will find something extra in your pay this week, if you… did not happen upon us, this evening," he said smoothly. "Perhaps… ten dragons apiece would be sufficient to smooth everything over?" he asked, naming an amount that was likely more than the guardsman would ever see in his life.

[Novice Intrigue]

Maekar smiled toothily, and handed over the bribe readily. Compared to the payout he was expecting, twenty dragons was a paltry sum indeed. "Good evening, Captain. I am sure his grace the Prince rests easier, with the knowldge that you and your men patrol the streets," he said, and with that began hurrying his men toward the docks. They move at a quicker pace, but still slowly enough so as not to call undue attention to the parge party of burly men that was travelling at night carrying a dozen large bundles.

When they reached the right wharf (assuming they did so without incident) Maekar would begin to oversee the transfer of the dragonbone onto the ship, and make sure that the Merchant had paid him the agreed-upon amount.

Maekar distributed the amounts promised to his men; each of them had more than enough gold to live out the rest of their lives in comfort and luxury. He then ordered the chests containing his own share brought back to his pavilion, where he stacked them beside his war-chests. He did not worry about thieves entering his pavilion, for two of his own men remained on guard evne when he was not present, and early on the march he had taken the thumb of a man that had tried to steal from him, sending a message to would-be thieves in the army.

As the army was beginning to disband, Maekar ordered his pavilion struck and bundled, and all of his belongs were loaded onto a pair of wagons, that would accompany the army's vast baggage train as it marched back to the capital. The men driving Maekar's wagons were from his own household, and loyal to him, and their orders were to deliver his belongings to his primary residence, which was a large walled manse about fifteen miles north of King's Landing.

When Maekar was confident that was arranged to his satisfaction, he mounted Cyrax and began to fly north, ordering ten of his men to follow along the Roseroad on swift horses, searching for the pair of wagons that he had sent with six men to bring the skulls of Azuria and Nenyan back to King's Landing. He knew they would be on the road, and he knew how fast they could travel, so he did not doubt that he'd be able to catch them easily.

When he caught up enough, he landed Cyrax and found the 10 men who'd been following him ahorse. That night, as the wagons made camp, Maekar and his men fell upon the original group in their camp. They were not his own men; rather just random soldiers from the Crownlands that he had assigned to the detail. When all six of them are dead, he checked over the ten replacements he'd brought, several of whom had taken wounds in the brief fighting. They gathered the bodies of hte slain guards and laid them in the back of one of the dragons, and then the new crew took the place of the old, driving the wagons onward toward the capital.

Their instructions were to explain that they had been attacked on the road and lost six men, and though they had managed to stop the bandits from making off with the Dragons' skulls, they had not been able to save the rest of the skeletons, which had been taken.

After arranging this, Maekar returns to Oldtown, and seeks out the blacksmith; enough time should have passed for the bow to have been completed, as well as the new hilts for Vigiliance and his dagger.