Chapter 23
The abduction of Eddard Stark was a major embarrassment for the crown. The young Lord was on his way back to the North, and while he was traversing across the Riverlands, the young Lord would find himself caught up in a riot of the Sparrows, where they were said to be burning the followers of the Old god along with the wierwood trees signifying the place of worship in the faith of the First Men.
Many speculate that the abduction was planned, and that the crown was in search of a pretense to declare the Sparrows as vigilantes so they could be brought down without much opposition from the populace. But it should be noted that the Royal Family enjoyed much popular support at that time and needed no justification to declare the Sparrows as outlaws.
Nonetheless, the abduction would cause major havoc for the Crown, especially with their armies away on the campaign in Stepstones. The Crown needed to bring down the Sparrows.
Prince Aemon wrote a strongly worded letter to the Lord of the Trident, Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun, yet conspicuously, the old Lord would suddenly die of chills, the lordship going to his son Edmure.
Edmure Tully was the only son of Lord Houster, married to Rosalind Frey. The young Lord was blessed with three children of his own. Unlike his Frey wife, Edmure was said to be an easily swayed man, and his indecisive nature would show as he would refuse the call from The Crown, made no meaningful action against the Sparrows, and continued to provide them with refuge in the Riverlands much to the anger and perplexity of his sword Lords, and his lady wife who would go on to play a major role in resolving this whole mess.
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ROBERT BARATHEON
Robert Baratheon had been filled with fury since the campaign against the wretched Blackfyres had begun. His hatred for the pretenders soared after they had made an attempt at the life of his wife and children using his own brother.
Renly had always been fickle and had often felt neglected with both him and Stannis being in Kingslanding, yet he had never expected this of him. Betrayal, and not just that, but kin slaying. It had really surprised him, and when the news about the siege reached him, he had every intention to turn back and cave in that traitor's head.
Yet, his guards and Cersei had been able to react quickly and were able to escape the castle while seeking aid from nearby houses who had been quick to react to the call, readying men to lend aid to their liege lord. In the end, the whole rebellion had been short-lived, with Renly succumbing to arrows fired by men of House Connignton as he tried to capture Cersei.
His brother's death had brought him both a sense of loss and relief, yet with the quick response from Stannis and his bannermen, Storm's End had been brought back under control in less than a fortnight, with Stannis personally beheading all the captured men, ending the rebellion and taking away his chance at revenge.
Yet his rage wouldn't let him seethe, and soon he would have his revenge. And so filled with this rage and determination, Robert watched as the ships of the Golden Company neared the shore of Grey Gallows, the massive armada swallowing up the shoreline as he and his men stood back and waited for their army to land.
Robert stood at the head of the army. Fifteen thousand men trained for war at his back arranged in four battalions stood at his back. He himself was clad in his armor, steel forged by the finest smiths of the continent. The armor was light, given its size, and was ornate enough, decorated with the sigil of his House with several stages of gold carved into the metal along with the massive horns that shot out of the helmet.
"Is this really smart to let them land like this?" questioned his vice commander, the only white cloak that had accompanied him on this campaign, Benjen Stark, the first Northern to join the Kingsgaurd in three hundred years.
The man seemed rather quiet and serious at first glance, but Robert had spent years sparring with the Whitecloaks and was quite aware of the hidden boisterous nature of the man. Though none of it was on appearance at the moment as the Golden Companies ships reached the shore and came to a halt.
Robert nodded, his eyes narrowing at the person standing at the head of the ship, he seemed clad in black armor, unlike the rest of the Company, which was fashioned into the signature gold-plated armor.
"Yes, this is the best course of action. Those ships are laden with scorpions and trebuchets. Having our army any closer would bring us into their range," he began as he motioned for one of his squires to come near as he pointed toward the uniquely dressed man.
"Use the far eye and see who is the person wearing the black armor," he ordered as he turned towards Benjen once more.
"Let them begin landing. As soon as they have begun, we shall shower them with arrows and boulders and then crush them with a sweeping cavalry charge, but if we attack now, they will simply pull back," he replied, and Benjen Stark nodded.
"It is a solid plan," and suddenly Robert frowned as the Golden Company raised their banners, but this time alongside their banner was another banner.
A black three-headed dragon on a red background. Opposite of the banner of the Royal Targaryen line. It was the sigil of House Blackfyre. The pretenders were finally here.
"My lord, it's the Blackfyre banner. The person you pointed out is probably...." The squire began nervously as Robert's eyes narrowed.
"Daemon Blackfyre!" he mouthed, and the very words made his anger flare up as his fists balled up. He picked up his Warhammer and began to step forward, his eyes focused onto the shadowy figure clad in Black armor, the man responsible for every tragedy that had befallen him in the past year.
The Golden Company had begun disembarking with their armies dismounting from their ships rapidly. It was time to make their move.
"MEN!" he shouted, his voice reverberating across the clearing as the men perked up at his command. He was in no mood for reviting speeches, and had the old King been alive, he would have chided him for his impatience and bruteness, yet one look at the men behind him told him that there truly was no need for words.
"LET'S SHOW THESE FUCKING PRETENDERS WHAT RETRIBUTION FEELS LIKE!" he shouted and men roared at his words, shaking the very ground as they followed behind him, stepping out of the cover that the small forest provided.
Even at such distance, he could feel the anxiety bubbling in the Golden Company as they saw the assembled fifteen thousand men.
"ARCHERS! TO THE FRONT!" he commanded and felt the men shift as the archers stepped forward, the army's signature unit wielding the recurved bow took the front line.
"TAKE AIM!" he shouted and heard the thrum of more than a bows getting drawn, and then he raised his war hammer, and saw the Golden Companies archer take their positions as well.
They fired their shots, yet their arrows landed in front of them, with only a few managing to land on his men, and even if they were blocked by shields. Yet his wouldn't fall short.
"FIRE!!!!" he shouted as he brought down his Warhammer!
SCHING! SCHWING! BOOM! THUNK! THUNK!
The sky was littered with arrows, scorpions, and boulders and he saw havoc break out in their enemy's camps as the onslaught ripped through the fabled Golden Company.
"AGAIN!" he shouted, and the barrage continued, showering their enemies with arrows, scorpions, and boulders.
"CAVALRY! MAKE READY!" he shouted again, and the three thousand heavy cavalry stepped forward, clad in full plate armor, castle-forged spears in hand as they lined up at his call. The armies' training over the years showed its effects.
"CHARGE!" she shouted, and the ground shook with the gallop of fifteen hundred horses, as the men rode past him, heading straight for the disorganized and disheveled men of the Golden Company.
Robert felt a smile form on his face as he felt his plan begin to take form when suddenly Benjen Stark spoke from the side,
"Something isn't right. Look at the nearby ships," said the man, and Robert frowned as he noticed the anomaly. Despite getting hammered, the few ships besides the main ship had shown no hurry to dismount and had their men still on board despite their brothers dying in front of them.
And then he stilled as he heard the sound of horns being blown from their enemy's camps, the massive sound filling his heart with dread.
The cavalry marched on, and though the men were panicking he could sense no sense of urgency from the rest of the Company. And suddenly from the ships docked at the shore, a number of projectiles were fired.
Projectiles headed straight for the cavalry.
"HOLDDD!" he shouted but by then it was too late, and he watched as the first of those projectiles landed on the charging cavalry.
BOOOM!
"AGHHHHHHH!" "AH!"
"AHHHHH!" "SAVE ME!" "FIRE!"
"RETREAT!"
Devouring them in a massive torrent of green fire.
0000
QYBURN
"What is the meaning of this!" Aemon shouted as he threw the response from Edmure Tully in front of Qyburn. He made no motion to reach for the letter, given that he was already aware of its contents.
The recently crowned lord had delicately refused the Crown's call and had declared that he could in no way step up to stop the people from carrying out their duty to the Seven, and that doing so would be going against his oaths to the Gods.
It was a farce, and after Qyburn's recent failure with the abduction of Lord Eddard Stark and assassination of Lord Houster, this was the third time the Preacher had outplayed him.
The young Prince seethed in rage and paced angrily in his room. The North was already enraged by this and were days away from crossing the Moat to bring back their kin. Prince Aemon had been able to halt their aggressive response, yet even then, the Crown couldn't let go of this.
"Have you found out, who killed Lord Houster?" the Prince suddenly questioned, and Qyburn nodded.
"Yes, my prince. It seems that the so-called Preacher is now leading all this personally. He had bribed one of the acolytes in the castle to poison Lord Houster, given that he knew that he wouldn't be able to sway the wizened lord and how he holds considerable influence over the young Lord Edmure," Qyburn answered.
The bribe hadn't been monetary, and instead, the young acolyte had had the words of treason whispered into his ears by a woman that he suspected was an employee of the Preacher.
"This Preacher is proving to be quite troublesome," muttered the Prince, and Qyburn would tend to agree with the Prince.
"Indeed, and I have confirmed it from considerable sources that he has approached the Blackfyres for an alliance, and I believe the Blackfyres would be happy to accept such an offer," and he saw the Prince stop at his words, his eyes widening as he realized that this could unravel all their victories over the Blackfyres and could hurt them massively.
Not to mention, the religious strife building up in the capital was a major concern as well, with the Fait beginning to flex their power as they saw an opportunity to regain a portion of the influence they had lost with King Aerys's reforms.
"This cannot be allowed to happen. We need to take care of this right now," said the Prince as he walked to the map hanging on the wall. His eyes scanned the various castles and houses in the Riverlands.
"Write to Stannis, have him and the men I sent with him get ready to march onto the Riverlands," the Prince ordered, and Qyburn nodded, putting the order in the back of his mind.
"Do we know where they are keeping Eddard?" the Prince questioned, and Qybrun shook his head.
"Not at the moment, my Prince, but the Kingsmen are looking into it. No matter where he is being kept, we will know soon enough," Qyburn told the Prince, who grit his teeth and nodded nonetheless.
"Have them do it on first priority, and also make them scout out all the hiding spots of these sparrows. I want to know each and every one of their hiding spots," said the Prince as he turned away from the map, fury burning in his eyes.
"We are going to kill them all in one fell swoop," said the Prince, and Qyburn gulped and nodded along, knowing that he had no place in dissuading the Prince from this line of action.
"And since the High Septon seems so amicable to their cause, it is perhaps time for a new High Septon to rise up. Septon Barthos has served the realm enough, and it is time that the Seven meet one of their most devout followers," said the Prince cryptically, the message behind his words clear.
Kill the High Septon and have someone more reasonable take his place.
"It will be done, my Prince," Qyburn said. Given the many vices enjoyed by the most devout, it wouldn't be much difficult for his associates to slip a little poison into his wine.
"Anything else, my prince?" he questioned and saw the Prince's mind race as he began after some thought.
"And have an edict written and distributed to all the lords of Riverlands, that the Crown may be on the lookout for a new Lord Paramount of the Trident!"
And as he was reeling from the shock of those words, there was a sudden knock on the door of the solar, making them both frown.
"My Prince, it is an emergency. I bring urgent news from the Stepstones!" came the voice of an acolyte, and he saw the Prince perk up at those words.
"Come on!" the prince ordered quickly, and the acolyte entered the solar and made a quick bow as the Prince motioned for him to continue.
"My Prince, the Blackfyres! They have joined up with the Golden Company and are closing in towards Grey Gallows for a massive attack!"
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