King's Landing
The Storm Warriors struck at King's Landing as if they were a lightning bolt from on high or perhaps an axe being driven through a wooden block.
Swiftly and with a power behind them that could not be halted by the defenders of surrounding the Old Gate as the coming storm of steel swept into them.
Robar remembered very little of it oddly. Aegon had returned to their camp from the parley and Robar had been one of the first to meet him outside of their camp and as soon as he had laid eyes on the broken form of Brienne in the other's man's arms Robar's words had died in his throat. Aegon had not said a word, but had trudged onward through the growing crowd of his followers to the tents of the bonesetters and healers that had joined their company. By the time that he had left the tent without his sister the crowd had grown into a full military formation - they had seen the sudden explosion of wildfire so word had gone out before Aegon had arrived to make themselves ready for a fight. They had all looked on silently as Aegon looked back at them and a mix of heavy emotions rippled through the Stormborn's face.
"My sister lives," Aegon had said after a long moment, "They do not know if she will wake though. She took half a carriage to her face and still managed to protect King Renly from harm." A small smile of pride had risen on his face before it disappeared with his next words,"They have answered our demands for surrender with betrayal and death, so be it. I have had enough of lions cowering behind their walls while blindly raking out with their claws and bleeding the Seven Kingdoms. I am going to go now and tear down every wall and every man that gets in my way and pull Joffrey off the Iron Throne with my bare hands if I have to!"
As Aegon had spoken Robar could feel an anger blossom and grow within him, almost as if Aegon's fury was passing through him and finding well enough kindling to grow into a fire. He had looked around and saw he was not alone, everywhere he looked he had seen wrath rising in the faces of the Storm Warriors just as it did in him.
Aegon then had unsheathed and pointed over their heads towards the city in the distance, "Will you march out with me? Will you carry my fury - our fury to those walls and death if it finds us all?"
Their response was a furious roar of a thousand voices, "YES!"
They had brought up their battering ram, had sent word to the closest camps to join them and last had sent word to Renly they were marching on the city. If the King had any objections it arrived too late to stop them. They gathered in several square formations and with their shields out and up they marched at a brisk pace toward the walls. It was Aegon who set the pace for their battline line as he pushed the battering ram himself - they actually struggled to keep pace with him for some of the distance. The response from the walls of the city had been mute until the Storm Warriors were right underneath the noses of the defenders - it was impossible that they had not been seen, Robar guessed the clamor of their steel and the roar of their fury could have been heard in the Blackwater clear across the city. It was almost as if the defenders on the wall were either completely surprised or completely terrified to do anything.
That had only lasted until they were a few meters from the portcullis of the Old Gate and it was then that arrows and ballista fire from the walls came down on them. Aegon had left the battering ram then and had ran forward to the wall itself - then without a word had grabbed the stone and climbed up it as if he was a monkey from the Isle of Cedars. Within a minute Aegon had climbed the wall and swung himself up onto the rampart. The Storm Warriors took it in stride and brought up their siege ladders to scale the walls behind the Stormborn.
"Down with the Whore Lion and her brood of inbreds!" Andrew Estermont bellowed as they climbed their hastily struck up ladders.
"Let them know about the Storm's Fury!" Robar shouted in kind as he crested the lip of the wall and pushed himself over. His feet landed on top of a dead redcloak, terror etched on the man's still warm features. The dead redcloak was not the only one as a score more of deadmen littered the wall where they had been hastily cut down.
This could not have been the whole garrison here Robar realized, but where had they gone to? Commotion from the gatehouse told Robar where Aegon had gone to as well as where the missing defenders had likely retreated to. The defenders would likely cut the mechanism to open the gate but they also no doubt had hot oil or worse, wildfire, waiting for the Storm Warriors as soon as the gate was smashed open. That had to be dealt with first.
"Shall we, Estermont?" Robar asked the Stormlander as several more men joined them on the wall.
"Aye," Andrew nodded, "Hopefully there are still some left for us."
The two men burst into the gatehouse just in time to see Aegon laying low the last of the city's guard and it made the both pause despite their earlier words of eagerness.
There were still five goldcloaks left, and had been backed into a corner by Aegon - the men looked stricken with looks of half-awe and half-fear at the sight of the giant man but Robar could not blame them. Aegon had at somepoint lost or thrown off his own helmet and the look of pure anger on the Storm Warrior's face was something that Robar had never seen before. The Giant of Tarth was always intimidating - be it from his size, knowledge of his almost otherworldly strength and speed, the sharp mind he hid from others - but this was something new and it made even Robar feel a pang of fear. Looking at the mask of fury on Aegon's face, his mouth curled into an almost feral snarl and the burning hatred in his eyes, it was something Robar had never witnessed before. What was stranger was the way that it seemed like the longer he looked at Aegon the more Robar could feel anger welling up inside him again - like he had felt before at the camp - almost as if Aegon was passing on the volatile emotion to him.
One of the goldcloaks raised his sword in a shaking hand and in a blink of an eye he was dead - as well as his compatriots. Aegon had moved without hesitation, one moment he had been standing with his bared blade and then he was among the goldcloaks - his sword lashed out in a blur - decapitating two men in a single stroke - while his other arm pummeled his shield into a third goldcloak sending the unfortunate man into the stone wall the man's barehead cracking like an egg upon impact. The last two did not have the time to fully understand what had happened to their comrades before again Aegon's sword came for them - a cut nearly split one man in two from shoulder to hip while a single jab through the chest lifted the last man off of his feet and was dead before he hit the floor.
Then unlike anything that Robar had seen of Aegon before he raised his blade and slashed down into one of the very dead corpses. Then again and again, a beastial shout of fury escaped Aegon's lips as he began to hack the bodies apart. Robar looked at Andrew the man equally stunned by the sight. This was not right, it was not something that the man he knew would do so wantonly. Blood splattered from the corpses covering the floor and the front of Aegon's face and armor giving it the color of red gore.
"Aegon! They are dead! Stop yourself!" Robar shouted and advanced on Aegon. The Stormborn turned toward hm and Robar immediately halted in his footsteps - a piercing gaze that Robar thought he could actually feel rip through him, "They are dead." he said through gritted teeth.
In an instant Aegon's demeanour changed, he looked half a moment from raising his sword toward Robar but seemed to realize what he was doing and for the first time looked honestly shocked. He stepped back and looked at the guard house and his sword covered in viscera of the men he had slain. A part of Robar thought that his friend looked stricken and lost.
Aegon finally semed to control himself and dropped his arm so that his sword pointed to the ground. "Robar...I…" muttered, he shook his head and looked back at him, "I don't know what came over me...it was if all I could hear and see was blood...HER blood, Robar…"
"You have every right to be bloody angry...at the betrayal by the Lannisters," Andrew joined them, "That though is with the Lannisters, not the people of King's Landing" Estermont cautioned.
Aegon took in a long breath. "You are both right, I...I need to focus" Aegon slapped his head as he seemed to get his bearings again, he saw a Baratheon-Lannister banner on the wall and tore it down with a single tug then proceeded to use it to wipe the blood from his body and sword quickly. There was still blood here and there splattered about him but more of the storm grey stood out. A crash from below signaled the gate crashing open, from outside the gatehouse he could also hear more Storm Warriors pouring onto the walls, "And we have still grim work to be done."
"Will you follow me still?"
"Of course, Stormborn." Andrew answered.
"Granted where we are now would be a bad time to take my leave, regardless I have followed you since Highgarden" Robar shrugged his shoulders dramatically, "A quick jaunt to the Red Keep from here would not change my mind at all"
"Haha, truly I am blessed with such good company to keep me in good humor." a true grin appearing on Aegon's face before he turned and strode toward another doorway in the gatehouse, "Come then, let's show them true fury!"
Like
Quote Reply
Report
368
Cataphract
Aug 10, 2020
Reader mode
New
Add bookmark
Aegon Stormborn
299 AC
King's Landing
Aegon had silently chided himself for the foolishness of his assault on King's Landing. Had he been of a clear head and heart he would not have condoned his initial assault on the city - it had only been thanks to the speed and suddenness of the Storm Warrior's attack that they had not suffered horrific casualties - though by the progress they had made into the city it was clear that the defenders had little stomach to fight. Once they had secured the Old Gate their had only been one counter-attack by a mix of Lannister redcloaks and goldcloaks and that attack had been squashed almost insultingly easily. Andrew Estermont had quipped that now that the defenders no longer had a wall between themselves and Aegon any confidence they had of defending King's Landing was spent and quashed.
It would have been a logistical nightmare for the Storm Warriors to take and hold the city of half a million souls by themselves - though Aegon had in mind a plan to secure a good portion of the city - his actions had fortunately galvanized Renly and his forces into action. By the time Aegon had crested Rhaeney's Hill to get a good look of the city with his sight he would see the torches of the rest of Renly's army swarming the walls surrounding the Gate of the Gods, the Lion's Gate and the King's Gate. At least it seemed the Weasel Baelish had kept his word to turn the city gates over to the attackers. Then reinforcements from House Caron and a few other Stormlander houses had arrived, along with a complement of men led by Garlan Tyrell from House Tyrell. Tyrell had brought with him orders by Renly to push on and secure the Dragon Gate and Iron Gate to prevent any escape by Lannister forces in the city. Garlan hinted with no subtle tones that Aegon and his men were to stay away from the Red Keep - it was to be Renly and his personal van who would siege the keep and all would see that.
Aegon had rolled his eyes beneath his helmet but had obliged to do as ordered. He did not care for the politics and posturing. Renly was welcome to it. Aegon had wished to only vent his anger and bring down the farce that was the Lannister resistance as an act of the vengeance he desired on them for Brienne.
It seemed the Seven had other plans for him however.
Or a sense of humor.
With the Iron Gate secure, well as secure as a gate that looked ready to fall off its rusted hinges could be, Aegon, Garlan and a compliment of their men had looped around Flea Bottom toward the center of the city. He knew of the fell reputation of the city's poorest and most dangerous neighborhood and he had aimed to protect the people there from the attackers - and protect the rest of Renly's forces from wandering into the section of the city. The Storm Warriors had been ordered to halt any instance of looting they saw. Aegon's sudden appearance alone had been enough to dissuade several instances of shops and houses being broken into and attacks on the street - by thieves and by looters from Renly's army. In fact the Storm Warriors had gathered a crowd of refugees from the fighting once they realized his men were there to actually restore order and not beat then rob them.
How they showed their gratefulness manifested when the crowd suddenly opened up and several of the city's citizens deposited a bruised, beaten, and disheveled form at his feet. The person - a young boy at second glance immediately tried to climb to his feet but tripped and fell back to his feet - his golden colored mop of hair stained by dirt and shit plastered his face. The boy had been stripped down to his small clothes and the cloak he wore but Aegon still recognized the face - he had seen the same fear on the boy's face as he had stared down on Aegon from the Iron Throne.
"Joffrey" Aegon said.
"I-I am King Joffrey!" Joffrey wobbled back to his feet, his words hysterical and on the edge of being shrieked, "I am the King! You will address me such or I will have you killed! All of you!"
Aegon blinked at the boy and brushed him with his hand, the force was enough to send the whelp falling back onto the ground with a shriek. Garlan, Robar and the others looked alarmed at the sight but made no motion to help the boy up.
"His head isn't on a makeshift pike," Aegon turned to the group of Flea Bottom residents who had deposited the boy at their feat, "That took no small amount of restraint."
"Least what he deserved, My Lord." one of the men who looked like he worked as a butcher grumbled before he spat on Joffrey which elicited another series of condemnations from the boy. Aegon pushed him again to shut him up. The Butcher continued, "I'd be happy to have my pound of flesh off him given the misery he put us all through. Course that means he wouldn't be able to live with himself and the insult to his 'honor'! Hah."
"Aye, though we don't want any part of his family trying to gut any of us." an older woman spoke, "By the Seven's grace he stumbled into Flea Bottom so by that right we give him up to the Seven's judgement."
"Regardless you have my thanks." Aegon inclined his head toward the crowd and that seemed to shake them all, he could see various emotions go through them - a mix of awe and fear. He had that effect on people.
"This is it," Garlan strode up to him as he spoke, "We have Joffrey in our hands. Cersei has no leverage at all now. We need to bring him to Renly."
"No, you should take the little brat to Renly" Aegon shook his head, "I acted on my own to attack the city and showing up with Joffrey...would just upset Renly I am sure."
He was not deaf to the words of praise he received throughout Renly's camp. How some like Estermont saw him as a paragon of the Warrior with an almost holy reverence. His reputation amongst the smallfolk rivaling Renly's. How many of the younger nobles looked on him with awe. It was a distraction to the duty he only wished to perform in his sister's stead. A threat to his family and warriors that he was responsible for. He hated politics.
"These people gave Joffrey up to you, Aegon. You deserve the credit." Garlan replied.
"I do not want it. I only want this whole war to be over and done with." Aegon almost growled his own reply - which only seemed to make the Tyrell quirk a smile.
"Your actions will do you no good. I'm afraid the more you try to run from it the more it will seek you out." Garlan bowed respectfully, "Very soon the smallfolk will hold you in the same regard as Aemon the Dragonknight or Ser Duncan the Tall."
In the end Aegon was able to send Andrew Estermont and a compliment of Storm Warriors with Garlan and his own men to escort the disgraced and increasingly delusional Joffrey away and toward Renly's position within the city.
"Even sending Joffrey with Garlan will likely not be enough to silence the word that you captured Joffrey" Robar said from Aegon's side, "It could still complicate things."
Aegon looked to Robar. How the other man had changed since he had joined with him. Robar had been just like Renly and his other hangers-on of young nobles eager for earning their name in song. Envisioning this war as a game rather. Robar knew that Renly in his own way was a threat to Aegon and the Storm Warriors. The young noble from the Vale had provided a good deal of insight to Aegon on Renly's character - especially how he wanted to be the center of everyone's attention and praises.
Aegon shrugged.
"We'll see."
Like
Quote Reply
Report
365
Cataphract
Sep 7, 2020
Petyr
299 AC
King's Landing
He tasted something foul on his tongue. No, he did not just taste it he smelt it too. It was the air, it smelt dank and rank of human waste and other such foul things. He was registering his senses slowly, beneath him he was not laying ontop of a soft bed in one of his safe houses but something hard, wet and cold. He opened his eyes and there was darkness. There was some sort of noise in the background but he could place it immediately.
"Unngh" he moaned, words seemed too complicated right now even for his own ingenious mind. He moved one of his arms but it felt lethargic and heavy, as if he was a skin filled to the brim with wine - but he had not been drinking. He tried to move his legs and he felt two things, one of his feet kicking into something heavy and the other was an iron bond clamped down on his foot's ankle. "Hnngh…"
Suddenly a light appeared in the corner of his vision and instead of illuminating it only seemed to make his vision blur terribly worse. He cursed wordlessly and shoved his head into the crook of his arm. His body felt immeasurably weak. What had happened to him? Where was he? Why was he here?
A new sound crept out of the background noise, it was soft but it grew louder as it seemed to approach him. He had heard this sound before, many times before. Always whenever THAT man came and left.
"My, my Lord Baelish," Varys' voice was an assault on his ears, "I do hope you are enjoying your new accommodations."
"Hnnngarys…" Baelish coughed, grinding his teeth together before he forced the word out of his mouth once more, "Varys...wh-what…"
Baelish moved his head out from his arm and withstood the pain in his eyes to see the smiling, smud face of the damned eunuch looking at him - through iron bars. Iron bars? His eyes watered but he looked around himself as the light from the torch Varys carried illuminated Petyr's so-called 'accommodations'.
He was in an iron cage.
It was strange, it was perhaps only half as tall as him standing up but was twice that in width. Most of the free space inside of it was taken up by strange, stone jars that had no obvious marking them. Beyond the cage he saw behind Varys a roughly hewn stone wall. It was damp with condensation from water…
From water.
He knew where he was now. The darkness. The smell. The sound he was hearing! It was water, moving water.
They were in the sewers beneath the city.
The warrens beneath the city were a maze of canals and aqueducts that carried the disgusting filth of the city away into Blackwater Bay. He sometimes moved his goods through the sewers beneath the city but rarely had cause to visit them himself.
"What...what are you…" Baelish ground out the words, Varys interrupted him before he could finish.
"What am I doing? What are you doing here? I'm just seeing you off on your voyage while taking care of a few matters for the King." Varys replied matter-of-factly, his shoulders shrugged beneath his robes. "My little birds and I, that is."
They weren't alone together. No, he looked and he saw small shapes moving in the shadows- smaller torches casting muddled light. Varys' birds were the children he used for his dirty work. Slave-children from Essos whose tongues were removed so as to not speak the secrets that the Spider so coveted. He had tried to take one of Varys' little birds once, a filthy little urchin girl. Of course the girl could not speak but he had suspected she could write so his men had left her hands free of harm as they had tried to get her to 'talk' about Varys' little spy network. In the end he had been left with no secrets and a dead bird.
It looked like they were moving the stone jars into what looked like more cages that appeared to be similar to the ones Petyr found himself in. The cages were oddly positioned.
"If you are wondering what the surprise in the jars are I will let you know,"" Varys withdrew one of his hands beneath the sleeves of his robes and flashed a gold dragon coin, "Part of the royal treasury you ran off with. Well, I mean the part you have not embezzled after all these years."
"How do you-?" Petyr snapped his mouth shut and glared at the eunuch, "I'd bow proper greetings but this cage does not give me much room to stand". Of course Varys knew he had been slowly making himself rich as Master of Coin for the Baratheons. Skimming taxes here, fudging records there. He had sequestered a sizeable part of the royal funds from the Lannister and Iron Bank debts for himself and his enterprises. Invested throughout the Seven Kingdoms he had earned much more than he had stolen. He was not stupid enough to take it all, he kept the treasury vaults stocked with fake and real coinage. He had devised an ingenious way to record which ones were real and which were fake.
He had been stealing from the Baratheons but what was Varys doing with the money now?
"What is this scheme of your's?" Petyr found his voice and shifted himself on his side to a more comfortable sitting position. "Frame me for stealing as a means to get me off the small council? Get me labeled as a traitor? Get yourself into the good graces of Renly and the Tyrells? Taking some of it for yourself?"
"Oh, no. I've never been one for personal luxuries, and I am already in the good graces of Renly." Varys chuckled and slipped his hand back into his sleeve, "No, no. This all being saved. Saved for a day when the true king returns to the Iron Throne. Until then the disappearance of so much coinage will certainly cause ripples and stresses in Renly's court."
"True king? Who? Stannis? You can't mean Joffrey or one of Cersei's other miserable children." Baelish laughed, shifting his position again so his free hand that was not holding him up could slide down to his boots where he kept a dagger for special occasions like this. Varys was leaning just close enough for a quick stab in that paunch of his. With the eunuch dead he was confident he could get Varys' birds to let him free once their master was dead.
He just needed a little more room. He shuffled himself a bit more, he moved his hand supporting himself a few inches back - and it went through the bottom bars of the cage behind him and into open air. "What-?"
He glanced backward, he had thought the other cages looked oddly positioned. They were on the very lip of the sewer edge- no his cage was dipped over the edge and beyond that was just the murky confluence of water and human waste. No wonder the cage was so short in height, it was enough to be lost beneath the surface of the rank river of waste. A few men with hooks and strong backs would be enough to lift the cages out of the water, their contents protected in the stone jars. The jars of coinage on the solid stone part of the sewer, and his own body weight, were the only thing keeping the cage from-
"As I said Lord Baelish. I wish you well on your voyage to Pentos. I will be sure to report to Lord Renly how a man bearing your resemblance was seen slipping through one of the smuggler tunnels during the confusion. It took me sometime to find a man who could pull off your...air of pettiness." Varys brought one of his slipper wearing feet up and placed it on the corner of the cage.
It could not end like this for him. He was Lord Petyr Baelish. He was Master of Coin. He had lords and smallfolk within his grasp. He had outsmarted kings and foolish knights. He had started the whole War of Five Kings with a hushed word to that fool Stark. Cat would be his! Power, respect, and fear would be his! He had so much to do!
"No-NO! Varys' we can come to an arrangement-" Baelish could keep the panic out of his voice as he ripped the dagger from his boot and made to stab the man at the same time-
-Varys pushed off with his foot. It wasn't much but it threw Petyr off enough to make him slip backwards, knocking several of the jars toward the opposite edge of the cage. He felt gravity take its steel grip on the cage, the jars, and Petyr and pull it into the water. The taste of the sewer rushed into his open mouth and nose making gag and heave, which only made things worse as he sucked in more of the shit stained water. The surface went over his head and everything became darkness.
Like
Reply
Report
337
Cataphract
Sep 10, 2020
Add bookmark
View discussion
Threadmarks Sansa II New
View content

Cataphract
Sep 27, 2020
Add bookmark
#2,349
Sansa II
299 AC
The Iron Throne
The Great Hall did not look quite that different from the last time that Sansa had been there. Clusters of nobles, servants, guards, and others despite their great number did not fill the cavernous throne room. It still had the weight of history that had begun with Aegon the Conqueror. The monstrous form of the Iron Throne still dominated and drew the eyes of all, its shape like a crooked mountain of melted iron. Now though the Baratheon-Lannister banners had been torn down in favor of a golden stag on a green field, the vine motifs had returned though the hunting tapestries that Robert had favored had been replaced with ones of jousting knights, and most importantly of all where before a tempestuous King Robert and the viscous Joffrey had sat now was the preening Renly Baratheon.
Renly Baratheon, First of His Name. King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men. Protector of the Realm. Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.
"That one could commit murder in the Great Sept and still cry innocence," Olenna Tyrell whispered to her with a quiet harumph.
"I think...she deludes herself into her lies," Sansa replied, "That's why they sound so believable coming from her mouth"
Since her liberation from Joffrey's clutches by Ser Aegon and his men Sansa had been sent south to Storm's End where she had tearfully reunited with Mother and Arya. Mother had asked her so many questions asking about what had happened to her but she had replied quietly and with few details. The wounds she had endured still felt fresh and painful. Arya had seemed to pick up on this and instead asked her questions about anything but her captivity - mostly about Ser Aegon and his men. The two sisters now had something else in common - being rescued by the Giant of Tarth.
One of the first things she had done, under advice from Aegon himself, had been to seek out Renly's Queen and her grandmother, the Queen of Thorns in Storm's End. She had laid down her pride, using the pain she had felt in her captivity and requested that they both teach her how to wield a knife - namely her wits in court. Olenna had been amused when Sansa had told her she was a slow learner but she did learn.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of in that, my dear. It is the flowers that grow the fastest and prettiest that are the first ones to be plucked from the garden". Olenna had told her and from there she had been invited to join Margarey as a lady in waiting. Mother had protested to her at first, Sansa knew that after going through losing both her, Arya and Father that Mother had felt the need to cling to them all, but had convinced her that she would be alright with the Tyrells. At least that's what she hoped.
When word had come of King's Landing falling to Renly's forces they had traveled north to join his court in the city. From where she stood beside Margarey, Sansa could see Mother standing with Arya and the rest of the delegation from the North. Just one more huddle of people from representatives of the Reach, the Crownlands, the Riverlands, and even the Vale seeking to negotiate or outright bend the knee to Renly - who seemed to be soaking up the attention happily. Five of the Kingsguard were there in the room with them, Lord Caron was at Hayford Castle overseeing the surrender of Kevan Lannister and his forces, while Ser Brienne was still bedridden from the attempted assasination attempt on Renly and Tyrion Lannister.
Speaking of the Dwarf, he was standing not far from his sister, the subject of Olenna's comment, though he looked more pleased with himself than her. When Ser Garlan had shown up with the captured Joffrey the fight had gone out of the Lannisters, and Cersei had offered her terms for surrender - that she and Joffrey would not be placed in the Black Cells and that the rest of her children would similarly not be confined or otherwise harmed. Joffrey had apparently protested, still declaring himself the rightful ruler, but Cersei had somehow managed to calm him down enough that he only struggled slightly when the guards confined him and his mother to their suites. Joffrey was absent now, and it was only Cersei who represented their shared interests - which was good enough for Sansa for she feared if she saw him again she would lose control of herself - either cry or rush forward and stab him she did not know.
"I was only doing what any Mother would do for her children," Cersei dabbed at her eyes with a cloth - her voice dripped with an pitiful amount of fear and worry that almost made one feel sorry for her. Sansa was not fooled this time by her theatrics, and neither was her own mother who immediately bristled at Cersei's comment.
"Murder of my good husband, thousands of people and ravaging the Riverlands and Crownlands?" Mother asked pointedly, to which Cersei batted aside too innocently.
"It was not I who commanded the armies or gave such proclamations, it was-" Cersei actually paused and glanced at Tyrion, she seemed to realize that she could not blame her brother as she had before for her own misdeeds, "-the work of my Father and his men. Their lives have been taken, is that not enough blood for your hands?"
"Bah. She claims her hands are clean of blood and dirt. No, those are the hands dirtier than those of a whore of Lys" Olenna said, not-too-quietly, it was certainly enough to make Cersei snap her head in their direction and shoot an awful looking glare. She looked like she wanted to proclaim that she was Queen and that they should speak better of her but a cough from Tyrion forestalled anything she might have said.
Renly looked amused by the exchange, well, as amused as one could be sitting on what had to be the most uncomfortable chair in all of Westeros. He kept his arms off the rests and had a cushion for his rear to sit on.
"Your actions still lead to death here in King's Landing and for that by the Seven-Who-Are-One you and your family must pay repentance," Renly proclaimed, though she knew he was not particularly pious he was able to make it seem like he was incredibly well. "I would not kill though my brother's wife...children."
Renly let his words pause on the last word. Stannis' letter had spread throughout must of Westeros and while Renly appeared to not believe the words that Joffrey and his siblings were products of incest...he did not outright deny the possibility. A proverbial dagger aimed at the throats of Cersei and her children should she prove to be less than cooperative.
"I hereby proclaim you are to be banished from King's Landing."
"To the Westerlands? With that butchering Robb Stark and his barbarians still running amok in my lands?" Cersei asked, again glancing askew at Mother...who smiled in return. It looked rather wolfish.
"Fear not, my dear...good-sister." Renly grinned down at Cersei, "You will be happy to know that I have received word from Robb Stark. He is pulling his men from the West and returning to the Riverlands.
It was true, though he did not mention that Robb and his Northmen were also taking just about anything not nailed down, taking gold shipments from the mines, cattle to feed his army and the starving Riverlands, and so forth. Uncle Edmure was driving the remnants of Tywin's army that had left Kevan Lannister and tried to return to the West - they were expected to mop them up together.
"You will though not be returning to Casterly Rock," Renly continued and Sansa smiled to herself by the look of shock and confusion on Cersei's face. She would enjoy it for years to come. "You and your son Tommen are hereby to be put into the custody of House Stark."
"What? You cannot do this!" Cersei sounded infuriated, "You-"
"It was an agreement between us." Tyrion interrupted his sister, the gloating could not be hidden from his voice, "As His Highnesses' new Warden of the West I agreed to the proposition to ensure the well being of the West, the noble families, and the smallfolk"
"What….what," Cersei struggled to compose herself, "What of Myrcella? What of Joffrey and Jaime? If they are not to be in the Stark custody where will they be? Will you go back on your word and execute them?"
"Myrcella will stay safely in Dorne." Renly circled a goblet of wine with a finger, "Jaime and Joffrey...as I promised they will not be executed, but they have committed willful treason against their King. Breaking oaths as a Kingsguard. Attempting to assassinate me in a most foul ploy."
From what she had been able to gather from talks with Margarey everyone knew that it was Cersei who had attempted to kill Renly with the failed wildfire carriage plot. According to Varys, Baelish might have been the only other person with knowledge on the plot but since he had disappeared with a good amount of the treasury there was no one else to blame. Given Joffrey's reputation it had not been hard by Renly's small council to plant the idea that Joffrey had been involved as well - even though both he and Cersei told them all they had no idea about the wildfire carriage.
"Instead, they will take the Black. It's that or death."
"No! No! That is not a choice! To be exiled to the Wall is a death sentence and you know it!" Cersei increasingly looked to become more feral with every word she spoke, "What do you think-"
"What I think is that YOU have overstepped your bounds," Renly became flat and cold as he spoke. He waved his hand, "Take her back to her quarters. There will be no debate now or ever."
Cersei continued to rail against Renly, loudly proclaiming that the nobles of Westeros would not stand for this ill treatment of her and her family. He would rue the day he - blah blah blah.
"I think that went rather well," Renly quipped, getting real and fake laughter from the room, "Now then. Show the Stormborn in."
When Aegon Stormborn strode through the great oak and bronze doors into the Great Hall he pushed open the doors himself, what normally took the effort of a few servants to open he did seamlessly and without effort. He strode down the carpet toward the Iron Throne in his blue and grey plate armor like a giant from a story. In comparison the Iron Throne actually looked small, and for an odd moment Sansa thought she saw his form shimmer and stand much taller wearing the strangest armor she had ever seen with two axes that glowed bright with caged lightning. It was only a moment however and when he stopped before the Iron Throne he immediately went down on his knee in respect.
"Your Highness," Aegon's voice rumbled throughout the Great Hall, "I am at your command".
"Yes, yes you are," Renly said and paused as he seemed to consider Aegon before he continued, "I have a need of you and your Storm Warriors, Ser Stormborn."
"How may we serve?" Aegon replied and stood when Renly motioned that he could stand.
"On behalf of Us you have defended House Stark before and now I call on you to do so again," Renly motioned again, this time for Mother to step forward, "Robb Stark returns to the Riverlands with his host to combat the Ironborn Invasion of the North. I would have you escort the disgraced Lannisters to Winterfell and the Wall, but I would also have you escort our delegation to Riverrun to negotiate Robb and his men bending the knee once more and assist in beating back the Ironborn -IF negotiations prove to be successful"
Balon Greyjoy's sudden declaration of independence and his attack against the North had been seen as a boon by the Lannisters - content to let their enemies fight among one another. It was however a boon for Renly now as well, with his Host in the south it meant Robb needed to return North to defend their land which put pressure on him to accept Renly's demands to bend the knee.
"And if negotiations are inconclusive…?" Aegon asked, his eyes seemed to search for something as he looked at Renly.
"You are to continue with moving the Lannisters to the Wall. Perhaps with a smaller force but I will leave it to your discretion." Renly replied.
"The North has always respected the neutrality of the Night's Watch," Mother said slowly, "I cannot say the same for the Ironborn, but the road to the Wall is long and will be unpleasant for those who are not used to its climate."
For Cersei and Joffrey who had lived pampered lives the trip North would be a nightmare for them, even if they were not chained as prisoners. Though she could not lie that Sansa hoped Cersei and Joffrey would take the cowards way out and choose death over the Wall. As much as she despised Cersei she knew though that the Lannister woman did care for her children and at least for their sake would not choose death.
"Hmmm, it looks as if Renly seeks to distance one of his most powerful pieces on the board," Olenna murmured.
It was true, moving Aegon and his Storm Warriors away from King's Landing was a boon and the opposite. They were popular, perhaps enough so to threaten Renly's own popularity with the people. With his reputation at this point as a problem solver she did not doubt that one way or another Aegon would succeed in his task -geld the threat of Joffrey's claim on the throne, ensure Northern cooperation, and beat back the Ironborn. It did mean however that Renly could not enjoy any protection Aegon and his men could offer and sending him away could alienate his supporters.
"As you command. I will see that it is done," Aegon bowed his head, what expression he had on his face was hidden to everyone.
Like
Reply
Report
377
Cataphract
Sep 27, 2020
New
Add bookmark
View discussion
First Prev4 of 6Next Last
Jump to new
Threadmarks
View content
15 more messages…
BoldItalicMore options…
Insert linkInsert imageSmilies
Insert
Advanced bb-codes
UndoMore options…
Preview
UnderlineStrike-throughText colorFont size
Font family
Paragraph format