The Stag and The Frog - (GendryxMeera GOT fanfic) Part 1: Alone

34: Read it yourself

The table at the end was also where they usually had council meetings regarding matters concerning the Stormlands. As Gendry entered the room Lord Penrose, the castle advisor, and Ser Swann, the military advisor, were already seated by it. Devan, whose official title was personal advisor to the lord, was nowhere to be found though.

Gendry walked around the table and sat down on the Lord's chair, which had a higher back than the other ones. No, it was not a throne. That would be too ridiculous.

Devan entered the room just as Gendry sat down. But he didn't walk around the table, Devan Seaworth couldn't be bothered with stuff like that. Instead, he jumped up on the table, scooted slightly, and swung his legs over to get to his seat. Lord Penrose rolled his eyes as he saw Devan pulling this maneuver.

"Could you not walk around the table?" he asked.

"I could, but this was faster," Devan replied as he sat down in his chair and put his feet up on the table.

Lord Penrose looked over at Gendry with despair in his eyes. He seemed to wonder why this child had been appointed an official advisor position. The answer to that was that no matter how childish Devan was at times, he was the only person in the castle that Gendry trusted fully. He obviously couldn't tell Lord Penrose that though.

"Didn't you go get Lord Penrose and Ser Swann?" Gendry asked Devan. "So why are you arriving after them?"

"I had to go by the kitchen and get something to eat, I figured we might be here a while and I was hungry..."

Gendry didn't bother replying to that. It was impossible to keep Devan from eating these days, apparently, he was still afraid of starving. Sometimes he worried Devan would eat up all their food reserves at the castle.

Instead, he went on with addressing the urgent matter at hand.

"I called you all here because I just received a letter from Lord Selwyn of Tarth. The island is under attack from the remainders of Euron Greyjoy's Iron Fleet. Apparently, the fleet has been hiding out on Dragonstone since the end of the war. They want to claim the island for themselves, as they have no interest in going back to the Iron islands to serve under Yara Greyjoy. Lord Selwyn is asking for my help in fending them off."

"But you have no fleet. Lord Selwyn himself commands the only fleet in the Stormlands," Ser Swann responded.

"The Iron islanders have burnt Tarth's fleet. They're trapped on the islands, unable to defend themselves from the attacks. The Iron Islanders are pillaging the island and Lord Selwyn fears for the safety of the women and children."

"But how can we help them without a fleet?."

"I don't know, but we need to come with something. Because Lord Selwyn has always supported me and I'm not about to let him down when he needs my help."

"My father has some ships." Devan suddenly piped up. "When he was knighted by your uncle Stannis he was given about ten ships to command. They are anchored by Cape Wrath. It's not too far to sail from there to Tarth."

"Ten ships are not going to do much against the Iron fleet, boy," Lord Penrose responded..

"I'm not going to fight the Iron fleet with them, Lord Penrose. But if we go at night we might be able to bypass their ships and get the women and children out of the islands."

"We need men for the ships though," Gendry said ."Ser Swann, are any of your men trained in sailing?"

"Not my men," Ser Swann replied. "But when we signed up the commoners for the army we asked what their previous trade had been and a few of them have worked in the harbor or on merchant ships. I should be able to find those men."