Chapter 39

House of Magister Illyrio Mopatis,
Free City of Pentos, Essos
The next evening

“Welcome to my house, my friend. This is a most ... unusual visit, to say the least, and you are a most remarkable guest,” Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos told his visitor now, as they walked into his palace and prepared for supper.

“A man does well to know when to accept or decline invitations. This man knows very well that acceptance is the better option here ... under present circumstances. A man does not wish our two great cities to go to war with each other again,” the stranger reassured Illyrio now.

“Which man is that?” Illyrio tested his guest now.

“This man is no one. This man is simply your honored guest,” the foreigner stipulated, even as he dressed in the decadent garments of a Lysene slave trader ... the perfect disguise for him.

“Forgive me, that costume of yours rather amazes and startles me. It represents the antithesis of who and what you are, does it not?” Illyrio proceeded, getting a nod again.

“This one does not concern himself with appearances, except as it serves the Many-Faced God. A man must do his duty, and this is the duty of this man. There are faces even now belonging to those of our brotherhood who didn’t do their duty, as you must know. Just as there will soon be faces adorning our walls that belong to Pentoshi men who didn’t do theirs.

“With this latest defection, the Magisters of Pentos have now broken faith with the Sealord of Braavos, have violated their treaty, and failed their sacred word and obligations under said pact. Forming an alliance against the interests of Braavos, that is not good, sir. To say that the Iron Bank is also displeased with the Magisters would be something of an understatement at this time. This man will go further and indicate that the Faceless Men are wroth with Pentos as well,” the stranger continued to expound a bit on the matter that brought them to supper together.

“Yes, I can see that, but for my part, I dissented from said decision. Mine was the lone dissent, in fact. I warned against incurring the wrath and displeasure of the Sealord and the Iron Bank, as you might have guessed. I am generally loathe to stick my fat neck out like that, be assured of that much, as I do not wish to anger and alienate my illustrious colleagues. That tends to be bad for business, as you must know.

“In this case, though, the shortsighted pull away from Braavos and toward Volantis and the other slave-holding cities, well, it struck me as myopic, reckless, and quite irresponsible. We have houses and families to consider here. We have money and other assets that we all wish to keep, don’t we? We don’t all wish to pick the losing side in this upcoming war, and I’m not blind as to the fact that it’s coming.

“It won’t be right away, but it will happen ... and sooner than any of us care for it. And the damn Magisters picked the wrong side! The losing side. They just don’t know it yet. I have an instinct which has only failed me now and then ... seldom enough to keep me alive at this age. An instinct that has brought me some rather useful friends, including a certain highly-placed eunuch in Westeros.

“Besides, it’s logic. Coin wins wars. Not weapons. Money buys armaments and soldiers that can be used to achieve victory, as you know. Ships are enormously useful as well. With the Iron Bank of Braavos ... and the Braavosi fleet, well, those are two very fine weapons at your own disposal. Pentos is close enough to Braavos ... and to the sea, that this is a real problem. The other Magisters are cowed by Volantis and its large army of sellswords.

“Well, Volantis was defeated before ... by Aegon Targaryen and his sisters ... and their dragons. The other Pentoshi Magisters can be such fools as to yield to the pressure from Volantis, but I recall us as a port city ... and that makes us rather vulnerable to naval blockade or worse. I know what happened when we defied Braavos in the past. Compared to our survival as a Free City, even the profitable slave trade must defer and be sacrificed in the name of victory,” Illyrio now demonstrated just plain good sense.