AN :
If we hit top 35 tomorrow, I will post another chapter ;)
In the Game of Stones, you either win or you wait. The more Power Stones you offer, the faster the chapters come.
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( Septon Callrik POV )
However, Callrik had a bit more to do, before any of them could stand, or the Septons and Septa's watching had a moment to return to their chores, Callrik raised his finger and fixed it squarely on the child that had brought these eight to be converted.
"Hold, one more soul will I speak of today." Callrik gestured with his hand. "Come here, boy."
...
Callum Lannister looked taken aback by the proclamation, glancing back and forth before his shoulders slumped slightly, and he proceeded forward to stand by Callrik. The boy needn't have worried, this was to be a joyous occasion.
The Most Devout turned to the eight new convertees and raised his right hand, placing his left upon the Lannister child's head, a smile finding its way to his old lips.
"You who have been brought to the seven's light this day, no that you were brought here for this most holy confirmation by this child Callum of House Lannister's reverent heart," Callrik said, finding the words as he went along. He hadn't had time to plan out a speech since making his decision, but he could feel the Seven Guiding him as he spoke.
"And rejoice also for I tell you this day that two days past, when I first beheld the shining emerald eyes of this boy, this child of The Seven Faced God, the Crone saw fit to grant me a vision, and to confirm for me that this child was blessed, and blessed greatly." Callrik felt the boy's head still beneath his palm, and he chuckled, glancing across the Starry Sept.
In the lights of the Braziers, shrouded by the incense smoke that drifted through the chamber, he could see many Septons and Septas watching now, even simple devotees from Old Town, men and women who had come here to pray with their families, all eyes now upon Callrik and the child who the Seven had seen fit to bless. He cleared his voice once more and spoke out across the room. His mind rolled as the words came one after the other, each louder than the one before.
"Here me now, oh witnesses, oh holy servants of the Seven-Faced God, for by the vision given to me I have found this boy to be thrice blessed." Callrik raised his arm high, the aches in his bones vanquished by the fervor in his heart. He pointed one finger towards the ceiling "The first blessing is the Smith's, which has filled his mind with dreams of wondrous tools, tools he even now uses to glorify the seven in a holy mission for which he has been chosen." The Most devout let the statement hang in the air while he raised a second finger.
"The Second Blessing is the Maiden's, for she has crafted this child in her image to inspire our hearts with his purity and beauty, and his innocence and empathy have brought even these strange convertees to the Seven's light." Under his hand, the boy made a choking noise, bending over slightly. Callrik thought he could hear the quiet whispers of a prayer from the boy, calling on the Seven-Faced God over and over again. It truly was a holy moment, now, his third finger raised.
"And lastly, the Third Blessing of this child was given by the Crone, for it was her touch that turned his eyes to portals of prophecy, and her lantern that shines with light from his head. She has placed in him a great destiny, though none but the Seven-Faced God knows its ending."
Callrik at once at a spontaneous impulse he felt rush through him, reached down and pulled Callum Lannister, who was still murmuring prayers, from the ground, raising him up into the air with both hands to present before all the eyes of the Starry Sept, straight above the altar where the sunlight shown down through the one window in the top of the dome, illuminated for all to see. Callrik's voice spoke at a fever pitch now, the madness of his zealotry taking him.
"Look upon this child and hear me, for I proclaim that he bears the blessings of the Seven who are one, and in their name he shall change the world!"
...
( Ilyn Payne POV )
Ser Ilyn Payne reclined in his chair, kicking his feet up on the stool in front of him and letting the sun beat down on his skin. The hot summer air set sweat to his brow, but it could hardly compare to the heat of the furnaces he'd been overseeing for the past six months.
His right hand reached out, grasping for the goblet of wine he'd brought up to the balcony with him. The taste was meaningless to him since he'd lost his tongue, but he could still well feel the burn in his throat as he poured it into his mouth.
Things had finally calmed down a little bit over the past few weeks. Not that they weren't still moving, but that the process had been pretty well hammered out. The presses, all two hundred of them, were done and working twelve hours a day, the new paper mills that had been hastily raised in the narrow coastline between the wall of Lannisport proper and Casterly Rock were churning out enough of the material to feed the presses, and the ink was mostly sorted.
After months and months on end of one long grind, the pages were now flowing off of the presses by the hundreds of thousands into the vaults of Casterly Rock. Several of the large chambers nearest to the Lion's Mouth, normally used to marshall the Lannister's household knights in times of war, had now been converted into assembly shops.
Leather covers (cut and branded with the symbol of the seven elsewhere), glue, cotton string, and the actual pages of the seven-pointed star were all brought into the rooms, and, in a process that Callum had called an assembly line, were slowly assembled together into completed books as they moved across a series of long wooden benches.
About ten men worked each table. As they went along the pages were bound with the strong cotton string, and then glued into the covers. This process resulted in thick, stout books with a dark brown color from the stiffening treatment that was applied to their covers. There was some discussion of dyeing the leather red, but that had ultimately been discarded in favor of other changes under Lord Tywin's direction.
The Lion of the Rock had put several contingencies in place when he had agreed to take over funding from the faith, committing no less than One Hundred Thousand Gold Dragons to the continuation of his son's vision, as well as allowing the use of the lower sections of the Rock near the Lion' Mouth.
The first of these contingencies required that the presses themselves be afforded to House Lannister upon the completion of the Millionth copy of the Seven-Pointed Star, The second was that the Faith of the Seven would handle all distribution of the copies across the Westerlands since they had more capability to do so through the Septons.
The third requirement was that a stamped picture of Lord Tywin, and of his son Callum, would adorn the title page of each book, along with an acknowledgment that the book was made and given away by the goodwill of House Lannister.
The last requirement was the most trouble in Ilyn's opinion. While a woodcarver named Liwus had managed to make quite a good stamp of Lord Tywin, he had never actually seen Callum's face, and artistic imaginings of the boy made poor images that the Lion refused to accept. Lord Tywin indicated that Callum could decide on a suitable image when he returned from Dorne.
This was all well and good as an idea, but Ilyn couldn't actually have any of the now nearly one hundred thousand copies of the Seven-Pointed Star distributed until that image was added. They all stood in large and carefully arranged stacks in one of the vaults that Lord Tywin had provided for the project, waiting to be stamped.
Ilyn just knew that it would be hectic when that last piece of the puzzle finally became available, so he was taking his time now to relax a bit and regain his strength for the inevitable effort to come. He felt the alcohol just starting to buzz when he was disturbed from his basking by a voice from the stairs.
"Ser Ilyn, Ser Ilyn, are you up here?" It was Lukas, one of the merchant's sons he'd hired to help run this little gathering post of his. The lad sounded frantic, so Ilyn sighed and waved his hand up above him, signaling to the young man. "Ah, there you are."
Lukas rushed over beside him, and Ilyn glanced up at him trying to make it clear how much he appreciated being disturbed through facial expression alone. Alas, there was too much clay between Lukas ears for such a signal to prove effective. Not that he wasn't glad about that fact once he started talking.
"Ser Ilyn, I've heard news from the Rock Ser. Lord Callum's boat just arrived at the Castle's Port." Ilyn felt his eyelid twitch, as he very, very carefully did not spill the wine he was currently holding on his chest.
A sigh, and he set the goblet down to the side, gesturing to it with a finger. Lukas could have it for all he cared, it wouldn't do to drink and then march up that damnable mountain.
...
Chronicle of the Targaryen Dynasty in the Seven Kingdoms
Maester Willem
277 AC - Sixteenth Day of First Moon
News Reaches the Great Sept of Baelor that the Head Septon of the Starry Sept, Septon Callrik of the Most Devout, proclaimed that Callum Lannister, the Son of Lord Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King, was blessed by the Smith, the Maiden, and the Crone above the altar of the Starry Sept in Oldtown.
Lord Tywin Lannister is said to have immediately visited the Great Sept of Baelor to question the High Septon about his son's blessing.
The High Septon, after three days of meditation and fasting, proclaimed that Septon Callrik was certainly right, but that the boy surely must be blessed by the Father too, as well as the Warrior. King Aerys, apparently amused by the situation, made several jokes about the High Septon wanting a larger throne of gold to sit on.
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