Ranma nodded firm agreement of that, and shared his plans for the children and any armsmen found to not be guilty of personal crimes. Eventually the two of them hammered out the details of what they would do, almost merging their plan equally, with Ranma agreeing to Daenerys's proposal about the women, and Daenerys agreeing in turn about the children, while modifying his plans for the armsmen.
OOOOOOO
By the next day, they had gathered enough evidence on the armsmen to split them into two camps. One were innocent of preying on the servants or smallfolk, but still had followed orders from the Freys willingly. This first group was a little over a hundred men. This was about half of the survivors, discounting the women and children.
Ranma and Daenerys stood on the ruins of the Water Tower with Fenris and the draklings on either side of them along with forty men armed and ready for trouble, with nearly two thirds of the archers with Ranma's army on the walls of both castles. The prisoners were led out onto the bridge, though many had to be pushed on when they caught sight of Daenerys. They had heard about the dragons in the sky during the battle, but to see a Targaryen and the dragons up close like this was astonishing.
It was a reaction the two of them had thought long about before deciding to cultivate. The dragons at this moment were not really a threat against a prepared, well-armed enemy, but how many people would realize that? While it was unlikely that the rumors of the dragons would win them any fights, it might make some lords much more uneasy about fighting them in the first place. Daenerys too hoped to connect the rumors of the dragons to her own actions and temperament in people's minds, further distancing herself with her mad father.
Having been coached on the need to be slightly dramatic at this point by Domeric, Ranma let the silence build for a moment after the prisoners were led in front of him. Then he began in a loud, clear voice that carried easily across the entire bridge. "All of you followed your lord into dishonor. That you kept your oaths to him is no mark against you, but you still must be punished for following his unlawful orders. I was named by my grandfather, Lord Tully, as his voice in this current crisis. As such, House Frey should have taken the field with me once I informed them of the true traitors to the crown, that the child that sits on that throne now has not an ounce of Baratheon blood in him."
That caused a round of shock, not that the rumors, and more importantly Lord Stannis' propaganda hadn't reached them, but to hear it so boldly spoken was still a surprise. Some of the more cynical of the prisoners thought that saying such was a ploy, considering the Starks had jumped into bed with the Targaryens, but most took it at face value.
Alayaya and Domeric had both informed Ranma of Stannis' declaration having heard about it from the farmers and then again here in the Twins from the servants, as well as a few other rumors about what was happening further south. The power of rumor was incredible, truly, but Ranma wondered what kind of evidence Stannis had about the incest part.
When Myrcella had heard about that part she had looked sick at the very idea, though they still couldn't say for sure that she wasn't a Baratheon. The Citadel hadn't been able to get back to them about that yet, and of course a raven couldn't find an army, so even if they sent word of it to Greywater Watch, it would take time to get to them.
Not that it mattered to Ranma, not really. He had made certain Merry knew that her parentage didn't matter at all to him. Daenerys said the same thing, though given her family's history it hadn't had the same impact as Ranma's declaration.
For now however Ranma had other things to concentrate on. "Instead of even hearing me out, House Frey's representative and Lord decided to try and play for whatever gain they could, and when I refused to play that game, they threw over their oaths to their lord Paramount in return for future promises of power from the Lannisters. For that House Frey is no more, and we could easily demand the heads of all of you and your fellows."
Daenerys spoke up then as the prisoners began to look at one another fearfully. "However, because those of you before us now have not been named by any of the servants here in the Twins as having preyed upon them as many of the Freys did, you get to live. But you don't get off scot-free."
Pointing towards the western side of the bridge Ranma brought the prisoners attention to a group of three hundred light cavalry led by Daryn Hornwood, along with a few other men who looked remarkably uncomfortable in the saddle. One of them was the smallfolk architect that Bran had recommended to Ranma. He didn't bear a weapon instead he carried a large satchel stuffed full of writing equipment and large sheaths of parchment, all of it covered with designs of what Ranma was thinking of calling the Royal Canal.
"You will serve the realm as workers for five years. You will be fed and clothed and treated honorably in that time while you work on whatever project myself or my representatives give to you. After those five years, you will each be given a hundred silver stags and let on your way. These men will lead you off now to head down to Seagard, where your first project will be organized. But first" he said sternly staring at them all. "You will each give your oath on your own names to only react in self-defense if someone attacks you, and to never bend the knee as armsmen once more to any lord."
He let the prisoners talk about it amongst themselves for a moment before beginning again. "Who will be first?" That process went on for some time but after it was done those men went off in rather high spirits. It wasn't often that armsmen survived the destruction of their Lord's house after all, and it was better than being forced to choose between death or the Night's watch.
The next group was simpler. This was the group of armsmen and Freys that had been accused of rape. Ranma's voice was even more stern and cold as he looked down at this group, nearly seventy armsmen and twelve men of Frey descent. "As armsmen and relatives, you could be excused for following your father or Lord into dishonor, but you all took a step further. Where some of your fellows went along with his orders but did not partake of his depravities, you all did. You each stand accused of rape, abuse of the servants that should've looked to you for protection, along with treason against your Lord Paramount siding with the Lannisters who even now are ravaging the Riverlands in return to seeing your father or your Lord raised to my grandfather's place."
Knowing the penalty for treason several of the prisoners tried to make a break for it at that point, trying to get up from where they had been forced to kneel, but none of them could get away. They were forced to remain there, each man held down by two of his.
At that moment Dacey and Alayaya led the maids and a few or the surviving Frey women, those who had not bought into their place in the Frey's world, who were raped or coerced by their own relations rather than play that game. This was Daenerys' addition to this portion of their day's bloody business, and Ranma, though a little worried about it, couldn't argue against it being a truer example of justice than most.
Each woman moved down the line of prisoners, staring at each man before selecting one man or another each. Many of the men cried out to the women, trying to get them to speak up, yelling at them to save them, but were answered with hard glares and hated looks.
Several women clustered around one of the Frey men, and a silent argument began on, Ranma supposed, who had precedence. Eventually one woman, an older, pregnant woman who looked about five months along won out, and was given a long, extremely sharp dagger. Like the other women, she took up position behind the man she had selected.
Now Daenerys spoke up. "Normally in the North, the man who passes the sentence wields the sword. But in this, we feel that it is true justice to have the victims carry out your sentence. For treason, rape, and abuse of those smallfolk who you should have protected instead, the sentence is death, to be carried out immediately by those you abused."
At her nod the men holding the prisoners pulled their heads back, baring their throats to the women. Ranma had thought that at this point a few of them might have hesitated, after all it was much easier to say you wanted someone dead then staring into his eyes and taking his life yourself. But only one, the youngest girl there, a servant girl barely Merry's age, even hesitated before plunging her blade into her rapist's throat like her fellow victims.
Ranma stared down at the carnage, shaking his head at the bloody business. Daenerys who had watched with pale face but stern eyes, squeezed his hand. "Just remember, more than one Lord would've included the children and the other armsmen in this, and wouldn't have cared about the rape and abuse. This way, the women gain some closure, and justice is served."
"I know, but it doesn't make me feel any better." Daenerys nodded wordless agreement, squeezing Ranma's hand harder.
The children were next, which was much easier. Thanks to Ranma's earlier actions, the boys and girls trusted him so when he told them what was going to happen to them they took it much better than would otherwise have been the case. The boys would serve in the army as gofers until they reached Seagard. Once there, if one of the lords or knights (mostly from the Manderly faction, which made up the larger portion of Ranma's present heavy cavalry) had decided to take them up to be their squires that would happen then. Any boys who weren't thus employed would be handed over to the maester at Seagard who would find them professions where they would take on their masters names for now until they reached sixteen, where they would then be able to choose a new name for themselves.
The Frey name was gone now, the House destroyed, its members scattered and the name itself taken from the survivors of their assault. Though there were still few Freys alive at Casterly Rock and in the Lannister armies, without their house to back them, they would be just another group of swordsmen. Or pensioners, and the Lannisters were not know to be kind to such. The boys and women taken captive here, those who were judged to not be trouble in the future, would be allowed to choose their own names. So long as they never called themselves Freys and never tried to become lords once more, that was enough.
The girls would be handed over to the septas, but would be able to leave that service at any time if they found a profession they enjoyed after finishing their educations to the satisfaction of the septas. The young girl whose painting Ranma had looked at was ecstatic about that bit. Truthfully the girl was so good already at painting that Ranma was going to leave money to pay for her education with Lord Mallister's household. He had no doubt that a few years from now she would become a famous artist.
The only exception to this was one the older pregnant servant woman and her child, a boy of three. They were allowed to go their way with two men of House Manderly guarding them. Her family had a farm within a day's travel, and she would be welcomed back there. Another exception was a young girl and her sister, one of the young girls. the two of them had been sent to serve the Freys in lieu of paying a loan back their family of farmers had accrued since their older brother had taken over the farm. They were sent further North with the severely wounded, those who would not be able to take the field again, and a few crannogmen scouts who had come along to report directly back to Lord Reed. They would be escorted to Greywater Watch, where they would enter Lady Reed's service.
Soon however the kids too were walked over the bridge to join the army's main encampment there.
The next bit Daenerys handled entirely, because Ranma crossed the bridge and began his work on the eastern portion of the Twins. The unmarried and married women who had tried to either by threats or coercion escape the army's custody that they would all be sent further north via the supply depot then up to White Harbor to join the Silent Sisters, which had a sept there. They would be sent with a band of twelve men of House Ryswell, walking wounded who needed the time to heal before rejoining the army later on.
Halfway through that pronouncement there was a tremendous rumble sounded from the inner keep of the western castle. All of the women turned to look as the keep, which could be seen over the outer wall from the bridge, began to crumble down. Cries of dismay and shock rang out from them, but were silenced when Daenerys continued. Those women were soon led off to join their guards on the western side of the Green Fork, finding to their shock that the outer wall too had been demolished, torn apart by something that sliced through the wall low down then let gravity do the rest.
Ranma had used the Kijin Raishin Dan after making certain no one could see him, or, you know, was in range of the blades. The vorpal blades were far more deadly and just a bit easier to use than the Bakusai Tenketsu, but because they were so deadly and couldn't be aimed, they were a weapon of last resort for Ranma. Moreover, Ranma wanted to keep them a secret weapon, since he feared that Viserys and the drakling Daenerys was forced to leave behind would be trouble in the future. If the dragon kept to the sky, the vorpal blades of the Loud Thief were the only techniques Ranma had that he could use against them in this dimension.
Still here they could be used to demolish the Twins entirely. No other family would be able to come in and take it over. The only things left would be the two barbicans on either side of the bridge. Those would be held by a force of archers and infantry left here who would be supplied by House Reed, their leader a Stark man from House Forrester.
Ranma wanted it that way for more reasons than simply setting an example or shattering the Frey's power. No, the Twins had been too distant from the rest of the Riverlands, made too powerful by their tolls. Its placement had allowed the Freys far too much leeway, and he didn't want any other house to think they could try the same thing again. The bridge and the barbicans would be run by his men for now, and the crown in time, with the taxes to use it going directly to the crown. This would be but the first of many such areas which would be called royal reserves in the future.
With that done Ranma walked across the bridge to give the western portion of the Twins the same treatment while Daenerys went on to the more innocent among the women. They would be sent to Barrowton, where they would be given twenty silver stags and housing until they found work. If they could not, they would be remanded to the septas there. This group would be watched just in case, hence their going to Barrowton, Whatever she lacked in other areas, Lady Dustin would be able to keep a firm hand on them.
That left Old Walder, who Ranma would see to personally. The old man, who suffered from gout and other issues due to his old age, had spent a very uncomfortable night in the tent assigned to him. His day however was much worse. It began when he was dragged through the ruins of what had once been his castle. He gaped around at the castle which had been destroyed, crumbling down into itself after Ranma had sliced through its first story. Plus more than a bit of work up top of course, just to make the ruin even more total.
He paled even more seeing the Water Tower down, and the keep on the other side of the Green Fork also having collapsed. He almost looked like he was having a heart attack just then, but he seemingly recovered from that, instead simply gazing around his eyes dead. When he spoke his voice showed his will had broken. "What have you done, wh, what have you all done!"
"What I had to." Ranma said grimly. "The Twins made you strong, the Twins made you think you were untouchable, the Twins are no more. Your name is gone, your castle is gone. Nothing will be left of either of these castles or your house's power base because you decided that your personal ambition was worth more than your family's duty to your Lord Paramount, more than the truth of who the real traitors were, and apparently more than your own word of honor."
Old Walder seemed to shrink into himself even further, but Ranma was not finished. "Walder no name, you stand accused of treachery, of breaking the peace of the realm by joining the traitorous Lannisters, of breaking the sanctity of parley and of inciting kinslaying among your own family. Do you have anything to say before sentence is carried out?"
The old man stared around at everything that he had thought so strong so inviolate, the rubble that Ranma had made of the Twins. Eventually he found his voice once more. "My family has members and men already serving with the Lannister force. They will avenge me, and rebuild our house. Your declaration of annulment of our name will not last longer than your own breathing boy. Do your worst." Even though the words were challenging and even brave, his tone showed how uncertain he was of that, and how fearful he was of death finally claiming him.
Ranma nodded, and said simply. "So be it. As my grandfather's voice I found you guilty, and as the man who gave the sentence, I will wield the sword." He raised Ice and swung it, once.
Old Walder's head bounced away for a moment before Smalljon, with a look of distaste kicked it off the bridge and into the water of the Green Fork far below. The man's body followed it, joining the men who had been executed earlier that day and Ranma at last nodded grimly. "Now that this little sideshow's done, perhaps we can concentrate on Tywin?"
OOOOOOO
At the same time that Ranma and Daenerys were meting out justice, two fleets were coming in sight of the ports they were currently making for. One of them was coming into sight of Planky Town, and the other was sailing into the port of Duskendale. Worse, fleets of black painted longships were also nearing their disparate targets. The game of thrones was about to get two new players, and Stannis would be once more on the move soon.
End chapter