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112 AC
Sunspear
Daeron Nymeros Martell
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Half of Dorne's full might is raised and gathered at Sunspear to board our fleet and what won't fit on the fifty galleys will go on some of Lord Corlys ships. Around fifteen thousand armed men are ready to kick some Triarchy ass and claim the Stepstones for Dorne. I think in all of history this might be one of the first or at least one of the few times the blood of the Rhoynar fights with dragons and not against them.
Without a doubt, our movements have attracted attention and the Triarchy is aware, I do not know yet if they have sent word but I know my Father would have by now. Likely asking for them to vacate the Stepstones before we start burning and killing. If we planned to surprise them then we should have just hit them with dragons before summoning half our army.
I am sure they will tell us to piss off and will continue to cling to the rocks, the fighting will be inevitable. The Kingdom of the three daughters survives of only a few things. One is the shared toll from the stepstones and the freedom of trade without fear of piracy. Another big one is peace letting the Disputed lands be farmed for various resources. They would never just hand over the Stepstones, if they did it all comes toppling down and they know it.
I am just looking forward to in the immediate future seeing my 'Dragons Teeth' go against some Myrish crossbowmen. To see my little spec ops group pelt down on the famed crossbowmen with their superior range and power of dragon bone. I expect my little archer group will be targeted heavily once they demonstrate their usefulness. But they know that going into this and are meant to be on the move at all times and out of danger as best they can.
Gaelithox lets out a roar as he tires of circling Sunspear and starts diving to land away from the amassed tents. I hear Tyraxes roar back but a third roar confuses me until I remember Seasmoke Laenor's mount. Three dragons hitting them as we carve out a place to land on the Stepstones is sure to get them panicking.
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"Mother." I embrace her as she wraps her arms tightly around me.
"How is my baby boy?" For fuck sake she is already starting...
"I am fine." I scowl at her earning a wide grin before she steps beside me as I start walking once more toward my father's war room he has set up.
"How were things after we left?" She loops her arm with mine and even starts walking slower, she is going to try and drag answers out of me before I can escape.
"Everything is fine, I had a productive visit to Braavos as well." I left the eggs on Gaelithox in the 'saddle bag' since they are most protected there. "I got an interesting gift from the Sealord and Braavos is looking for support." She raises a curious eyebrow as we get closer to my destination.
"Support with what, and what would you consider interesting from them? Hopefully, you did not promise something that will have you spending time far away." I double-check the surroundings since there are Lords and Ladies of various Houses of Dorne here and one can't be too careful.
"Three dragon eggs a thief stole and they want dragon fire if Pentos declares war once more." Her eyes widen and I smile as we are now too close to keep talking and she has to stew on that until we are in a more private setting.
As we enter the room I feel the eyes shifting from the table to me but the pair of eyes beside me burrowing into me with annoyance are the most noticeable. I smile and nod toward my Father and brother who both wave me over to them, but the smile is more so one of victory to annoy my Mother.
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"Why do the big beasts not just fly out and burn them off the damn rocks if you want them so badly." Lord Gargalen speaks up with his gruff voice, one of the few who still openly voice his displeasure of the dragons.
Got to respect the guy even if just a little bit, he is here not just to see the 'game plan' but he is going to be fighting with his men. He is not scared to voice his opinion and never passes a chance to scoff at something he sees as being stupid. I like the guy even if he is annoying at times in the few meetings I have sat in on with him present.
"They will be burning any enemy they can spit their flames at, do not worry about the dragon's fire being used. We first need to land our men onto one of the islands as the dragons protect the fleet so a ship is not sunk killing hundreds of our men." He gets a reluctant nod from the Lord before looking once more at the map. "Daeron tell us about what you saw when you passed through the Stepstone to get here." I nod as I point at 'Sunstone' one of the bigger islands.
"We went between Sunstone and Dorne itself and the ships I saw that held a blockade there retreated upon seeing Gaelithox. On the island itself when I took a look I saw some basic fortifications mostly wood with some tents scattered around. Nothing they could not just leave behind to regroup with the main bulk of their fleet near Bloodstone." We followed the same path that Lord Corlys took to get down here to help us ship the men into battle, I would guess the same happened when they saw Seasmoke.
They had Ballista onboard but I doubt they care to actually try and hit a dragon when it's less than ten ships. It would only take a few passes to have them all burning and they would rather group their full power together before fighting if I had to guess. It does beg the question of why they 'came back' if they had done the same when Seasmoke flew by.
"I see, the plan to make land on Grey Gallows will continue and then we will clear the smaller islands nearby before pushing forward." There are only roughly twelve named islands but I bet anything they have some people camped out on some unnamed smaller ones just to try and get lucky with a well-placed bolt.
"I am sure Lys will love to be cut off from her allies." I comment as I look southeast from Grey Gallows, they will be on their own for the most part.
They have some small colonies on the coast so they can farm the Disputed lands but we are literally forcing them on their own. To be honest we are kind of opening our back up to them if we do not do something to keep them from attacking our backs. I believe this war was fought from the North and not the South in 'canon'. We also will not be hitting Bloodstone until most of the other islands are cleared.
But I guess we also have the benefit of having a very short supply line with Dorne within spitting distance. We also are only worrying about the three daughters for the most part, in canon they would have to fear Dorne joining which they eventually did. But here the Triarchy is on its own, the other Free cities only really stand to gain from them falling apart which will stay their hand. If another does try to join they are only making an enemy of Dorne and dragons, not many would do that except maybe Volantis but Volantis is pissed because they want to be the rulers over the three daughters.
Shit one of the main reasons these three free cities united was to deal with Volantis and it was only through profits that they stayed together and took the Stepstones. They would not beg Volantis to join in and neither would Volantis offer a hand. Pentos is busy screwing with Braavos and Braavos built our fleet so we are in the clear to break the Triarchy.
"With Lys unable to get access to her allies through the Stepstones, if we burn her fleet she is cut off from everything and will be in a bad position. I believe once we have a foot under us on Grey Gallows that gutting Lys to kick her off the board is the best plan. With Gaelithox leading a third of the men, it will be a simple matter to force Lys out of the war." This is the part I most dread if I am honest.
Lewyn will have Tyraxes to defend most of the men and cut off Myr and Tyrosh from sailing down and aiding Lys. They can then only send support through the Disputed lands and they would need ships to sail from the mainland of Essos to Lys, which I will be burning. Lys itself is fortified with 'anti-air' but not nearly as much as the other two free cities. It also does not garrison many troops as that would kill a lot of their business if people saw them fearing an invasion. No one would want to be in Lys even if they had the best whores if they felt in danger, and Lys already has the smallest amount of troops, to begin with.
So cutting the head off one of the three daughters to begin this war will be what sets the tone for the whole thing. The thing I dread is this is also the most morally wrong part of the whole war. To attack a Free city directly is an entirely different thing than kicking their troops out of the shipping lanes. The goal is to deal a fatal wound to the Triarchy and hopefully have the troops from Lys back out of the Stepstones altogether. But even with it being a good course of action it won't change how people see me if I have to burn part of a Free city to achieve results.
Cons and Pros to this, fear will keep people from causing trouble but will linger and hover over my kids with people expecting them to replicate my actions to a degree. With that being the case I honestly don't see the reason why if I am going that far any way why I do not go all the way. If I will have the stigma of a 'burner' why do I not just get the consolation prize of claiming Lys and being a 'conqueror'?
Food for thought I suppose, my Father has likely also thought of this since it's not a leap to consider it. But he has not said anything about it and I do not know if it's because he disapproves of the idea and the problems it will bring or something else. Maybe he is waiting to see if I can pull it off before he talks about claiming an entire Free city, a Free city the Dornish would love to consider a part of our 'principality'. I mean the Dornish love sex and Lys is the go-to spot for the best sex in the known world so they would be all for it.
But I have to get the eggs in the basket before I count them and even when the time to count comes it will be a trial. Lys will not lie down and just show their belly because they are defeated and they are not above sending assassins to the people I care about. Aegon dealt with assassins for the majority of his reign and is the reason for the Kingsguard. But at least I will not have to worry about the Faceless men if we do go that path, I at least hope our loose ties to Braavos will help us with those scary fuckers.