Chereads / Game of Thrones: Blood and Wrath / Chapter 32 - The Burning Flames of War

Chapter 32 - The Burning Flames of War

King's Landing 

Margaery was fuming as she sat with Cornelia in her arms and was also watching Sansa, a tiny swelling belly between them.

What made her angrier was that Loren didn't even tell her to her face, she didn't even hear from Sansa but the girl's handmaiden. The key to House Stark remained silent to her stares.

Loren and his forces left over a month ago by now, she spent a number of nights laying in bed with her husband until she becomes heavy with child again. I wished he would have waited a little longer before turning his eyes unto another woman. She thought with a frown.

She stormed in on him when he was sleeping after finding out the little secret.

Three Weeks Prior...

The chamber door slammed open despite Loren's guards saying otherwise, she picked up the nearest glass goblet and threw it at the bed-stand next to Loren's face.

"What is the meaning of this, Margaery?!" Her husband demanded when the sound of glass shattering made him open his eye, jumping to his feet with a dagger in his hand.

"I didn't give you what you want so you look elsewhere? With someone who I thought was my friend!" She cried with tears filling in her eyes as she continued to throw objects at him, the man using a blanket to deflect a few of the things she hurled at him.

That bitch servant of Sansa told her what she didn't want to know, whispering of how her husband came to Sansa in the night and had his way with her.

She didn't want to believe it and didn't want to think that Loren was so childish as to lash out at her for something that he had a hand in, she scoffed and thought that he was apart of how Cornelia came to be.

"I am doing what I need to, to solidify my legacy!" His voice boomed over her own anger, making her recoil a bit from his tone. "I won't apologize for what needed to be done, nor will I deal with your pettiness over my lust when you've put yourself over to a pillow-biter and then a tyrant just for power- " He remarked sarcastically until she had heard enough and slapped him across the face.

Things quieted between them Loren glared at the guards who were watching the scene play out with interest, they scurried away a second after seeing Loren's eye pierce them.

"Is Cornelia such a disappointment to you? That she wasn't born a boy?" She asked him with a choking voice and the tears still falling down her cheeks.

Loren frowned and stepped back, then forward and placed a hand on her cheek. "I am proud to have a child, no matter the gender... But my love, I needed a boy." He uttered and she felt sick, of him and of herself. "I will care for our daughter, she will have everything under the sun and will be the jewel of the Realm." He promised her but she thought to herself that despite his promises, a son comes first.

Present Time... 

She reconciled with him that very day, taking him like she had done on their wedding night so many months ago.

Now, she was left to rule the city in her husband's absence and in that time, she is stuck with Loren's pregnant mistress who is also a good friend that she'd grown fond of after the Battle of Blackwater.

She does feel sorry for the girl, she made Sansa tell her of the night she lost her maidenhead. Loren was a real bastard for forcing himself on her, it made the anger she felt against her fade away.

"Talking about it will make the pain you feel lessen, Sansa." A lie, she wanted her to know she was safe and it was alright but it wasn't.

Women are always going to be vulnerable to the men in this age- In any age and will always be a plaything for the men in this game. Sansa began to sob a little, heaving her chest and feeling the emotions get to her.

The little wolf isn't made for this world, she could see that as clear as day.

"Sansa, listen to me." The younger girl sighed and looked her in the eye, "I know this is very strange, strange because you never expected this but I promise you, you will live comfortably for the remainder of your days and this child, it will be a beacon you can cling to for peace." She knows the feeling, motherhood was never something she thought would change her but it had.

Cornelia is her everything, looking down at the child's eyes that looked right back with her father's eyes.

She will do anything for her and she knows that whatever child comes from Sansa, whether it is a boy or girl, it will change Sansa's life for the better.

Blackhaven 

This place was cold and wet.

Loren stared down from the battlements of Blackhaven as his force started to gather, camp themselves and do training drills for the upcoming fight against the Targaryen girl.

The small scale skirmishes have so far been inconclusive victories for his faction, what with the Dothraki and traitor Dornish making a push then retreating when the battle is nearing lost to them.

His allies call these victories and have even cheered, sharing cups of ale or wine but not him. These are not victories, this is my brother poking the nest for the perfect moment. Loren thought while scratching his chin.

Tyrion is as much their father than himself, just without the much-needed cruelty that comes with being a Lannister of Casterly Rock.

It's only a matter of time before his brother attacks and it will certainly be the battle that will either end this war, or drag it out until the Realm is back to its feudal ways where Kingdom fought Kingdom.

"I thought these wars were supposed to be over, cousin?" He turned and saw Damon looking back at him, dressed in his armor where he chose to be in his normal clothing until it is time to do so.

"I did keep my promise, I can't control whoever wants to come and pick a fight? We'll defeat the woman and send her and her dragons on a tour of each of the Seven Hells." He said to his only ally in the entire Seven Kingdoms that he trusts.

Damon gave him a pointed look, he didn't look happy and didn't feel very comfortable right now.

"What's with the look? Did someone anger you, Damon?" He questioned and his cousin was quick to respond to him.

"I am surprised you would forget... Sansa Stark?" Loren cursed, wishing he didn't know about what happened, "I went to see her, to tell her of our engagement but then she told me she was taken, by you." He wanted to sigh and groan, finding himself angry at the Stark girl. "You promised me that she would be mine, I'd be Warden of the North- " Damon's tone grew in and he grabbed the man by the neck and pushed him against a wall.

"I didn't lie to you, she will be yours and you will be Warden of the North, I wear it." He seethed and then calmed himself from his less volatile self, "What happened between the girl and I was an accident, a moment of weakness that will never happen again. She will bring my child into the world, the histories won't record her as the mother, in most eyes, she will be a maiden and you will be her first lover." Problem avoided and solved, he watched Damon's disposition calm and relax.

The man's still narrowing his eyes at him, Loren realized he'd still be angry at him for a while.

Damon huffed and said he'd go back and rejoin the men in the camp, Loren noticed he wasn't happy about the triangle between him, Damon and Sansa. The Lord of the Westerlands grunted in frustration, uninterested in having this squabble over nothing.

The sun had begun to set and his mind wondered what his brother was up to, it honestly couldn't help him sleep and he refused to down any essence of nightshade.

It wouldn't do to give his enemies a chance to kill him in his sleep.

Dorne 

Loren's deduction in Tyrion prodding his force was correct, the garrison of seven-thousand Dornishmen was completely unaware when one of the Targaryen dragons attacked the camp.

Quentyn Martell and 4,000 others were given information by a spy working for Varys, getting the young leader to take half of his forces back down to the Brimstone on the invader's fleet making another push.

As Yronwood soldiers fought against flame and the Dothraki and Unsullied forces slamming into their fold, the Targaryen fleet headed an assault on the port at Wyl, bombarding the walls as ships deployed Dornish soldiers to sack the small town and keep.

Anders Yronwood stood atop a tower with a handful of bowmen, they were the best archers within his forces.

The Lord of the Yronwood saw the dragon come down and trained his scorpion, archers flanked him with nocked arrows. "Now!" The shafts flew through the air and were deflected off of the beast's wings which protected its rider.

The father of three knew it wouldn't work, the arrows were merely meant to divert her attention to him.

Daenerys did notice the attempt and didn't see the scorpion peering through the darkness and as it came nearer and nearer, the javelin shot from the weapon and hit its target, unfortunately, the spear didn't hit the dragon in its heart but it did find a dragon knee.

The creature screeched and crashed into the tower, Anders and his men fell with rubble landing on them as they fell to their deaths.

Yronwood fell, out of the seven-thousand defenders only 1300 escaped to Wyl only to be captured by the other half of the attacking Targaryen force.

Quentyn Martell, Cletus and Archibald Yronwood, and others were too late and found a burning Yronwood with the dragon banner flying all corners of its walls. "Damn it!" Quentyn cursed and gave the order for the army to turn around and flee up the Prince's Pass.

Dorne is gone, this war has officially begun and many fear or are excited that it will be a bloody fight, bloodier than the War of the Five Kings.

Three days later, Loren got the news and had gathered his commanders together within Blackhaven.

"Wyl and Yronwood have fallen, our strongholds that held back the invaders now resides in Nightsong and here, at Blackhaven." He sighed and sipped from his wine, his eye darkened with hate for his brother and himself. "Fear not, we will make our stand and scorpions and arrows will be waiting for the bitch when she gets here or at Nightsong." The commanders still seemed shaken by the news.

Dorne still has groups and bands of fighters taking the battle to the foreigners and traitors, he just needs to make a victory before the girl decides to reenact the field of fire, minus a dragon from what was said, one of Daenerys beast's got a scorpion shot to its knees meaning it will need to either stay in flight or be left behind to lick it's wound.

A knock on the hall door was heard, waving at the guard a messenger walked right in with a raven scroll.

"Terrible news, your Lordship." He hates bad news, much more than being intervened by it after he had lost a move on the battlefield.

The raven scroll read about movement from the North, Jon Snow is marching south with twenty-thousands men to talk of a truce between the three of them, meaning himself, Daenerys and the bastard.

A heavy sigh escaped Loren who ended up crumpling the letter in his hands, "Prepare for a full retreat, we move to Grassy Vale." One of his lords jumped from his chair with shock on his face.

"And leave all that territory to the Targaryen wench? We'd be giving them too much room to expand- " Loren cut the Lord off by throwing his cup at the wall, fury on his face.

"A wolf marches on MY capital! I won't let Ned Starks pup claim what's taken me years to grasp!" His roar echoed through the room, "Now, send ravens to each castle in the Reach, Lord Tyrell and Tarly are to gather all the wheat, barley, and meat and stockpile it at Bitterbridge. Burn the fields as we go so Daenerys doesn't have the food to feed her army or her dragons."

Dorne is lost, yes, but he will be damned if he gives over his power to an exiled princess or a bastard from the North.

At Wyl's Keep, Varys had also informed Daenerys of Jon's march toward's the South and she immediately thought the Northerner was on her side but then the Master of Whispers told her that he wasn't marching for her or for Loren Lannister.

Jon Snow wishes to hold a meeting between the three kingdoms, a truce between the three rulers in defeating a greater threat which has puzzled her and Tommen's Hand of the King.