At some point in time, Lyam Mallister and Franklin Frey somehow ended up being the beginnings of what I was suspecting to be my inner circle. Lyam Mallister was family and from my memories of him, of Edmyn before I happened, fostering at Seagard with him and his father, I had come to the conclusion that I could trust him. Not as much as Ser Patrek, but close enough.
It also didn't hurt that he was probably one of the nicest people in Westeros. Nice people and Westeros. I am rather surprised that such a thing was possible unless you were Ned Stark.
Ser Franklin was a Frey.
That by itself should be sending all sorts of alarm bells ringing, but there were several reasons why I think I could trust him. Walder Frey was not yet a thing. And he seemed to be an alright bloke. Nothing too exceptional and seemed to take his lordly duties rather seriously.
So here we were, the three of us looking over a map of Westeros, trying to figure out how to make sure that when the other kingdoms try to fuck us up the arse, at the very least, we would be wearing as much lube as possible.
Speaking of which, I had something of an idea. I tapped my index finger on Moat Cailin. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this particular causeway is the only way for an army to invade the north, isn't it?"
"Yes. And Moat Cailin guards the way." Said Ser Franklin.
"So it stands to reason that for a northern army to invade the riverlands, they would have to travel that very same causeway, no?"
"Yes," Lyam Mallister said slowly. "What are you trying to get at, cousin?"
"The north has no navy," Something that is utterly absurd and something of an oversight of GRRMs, but something I was more than willing to abuse for the nonce. "We don't have to worry about any sort of amphibious landing, so the only way for them to try and make a grab for our land is to march an army down the causeway through the neck. What I am trying to say coz, is why don't we build our own Moat Cailin on our side of the Neck?"
I wonder why no previous King of the Trident or Rivers and Hills or whatever had never thought of that. It all seemed rather simple in truth. Perhaps I was missing something as to why this had never been done before, but I wasn't really hitting anything in terms of what exactly I was missing.
I just chocked it up to GRRM trying to keep the narrative of the Riverlands being the bitch of the rest of Westeros.
Ser Franklin drummed his fingers on the table between us, staring intently at the map. "That is something...that can be done." I think there was some sense of awe or something in his voice. "But I doubt the crannogmen would just allow us to build such a thing."
Lyam Mallister scowled. "The mud men would surely harass our workers. And that is if King Torrhen allows us to just build something of such strategic value on our end."
Oh yeah, the King who knelt. I had nothing on him apart from the rumours and what people said about him. You know, the usual honourable Stark and all.
"There is also the fact that the causeway is the only land route into the north accessible to us. The same cannot be said for the crannogmen and the northmen. They most likely have all manner of secret routes through the neck that we know nothing about." The Frey of the Crossing pointed out as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"I can't say I've ever heard of an entire army being transported through swamp trails." There was that one Brazilian general that build a fucking road through a swamp or something, but my knowledge of him was iffy and I think I was getting the details wrong. That and the fact that there was a vast difference in technology of that guys time as well to the current time. "And even if King Torrhen decides to look into alternative methods of trying to get his army down south, I think we would be able to notice any build up of forces before they become anything sort of a credible threat."
I refused to believe that Daeron the Young Dragon was somehow able to get his army unnoticed through the mountains of Dorne by using fucking goat trails. There had to be another reason. That and I still called bullshit about the mountain path that Grey Wind had been able to find that he somehow was able to use to get Robb and his thousands of cavalry into the Westerlands.
But those mountain paths, I knew existed, could very well prove to be useful in the future if they are found.
The others nodded at that. "I suppose the same can be applied to the highroads?" Lyam asked as he traced a finger from the north to the mountains of the Vale of Arryn. "Build some fortifications to control the roads on our borders, enough to stall any potential invasions from the Knights of the Vale?"
We could do that? I didn't know anything about the highroads, but if Lyam was saying we could do it, then I suppose we are going to do it. I just simply nodded my head.
"Problem is," Ser Franklin began. "The Vale have something the north, that we even don't have, a navy. They could very well make an assault on one of our port towns and take it uncontested from the seas."
He had a point. "We'll deal with that little problem when we get to it. At the moment, we have to concentrate on trying to control the routes into the riverlands on land routes instead of the sea. There's nothing we can do about the sea until we solve this issue."
He nodded then. "So that takes care of the east and north, what of the south and west?"
I frowned on that one. I had been thinking on how to handle the south, the part of the kingdom that didn't have anything resembling any sort of blatant physical geography that we could try and turn to our advantage. I was still hung on that, but the west though, the west at the very least, I had something in mind.
"We have to take the Golden Tooth." It was simple really. The Golden Tooth overlooked the one large pass that allowed any sort of army from the west to attacking the east and vice versa.
The Tullys have always looked warily in the direction of the Golden Tooth in the case of attack from the Lannisters, sort of went into our traditional role of being the first in the line of defence against any westermen attack. If we were able to take and hold and control the Golden Tooth, not only do we get a boost in wealth from the gold in that direction, but at the same time, we control a land route that would give us the advantage against the westermen.
I would have been a little bit worried about the Deep Den considering that it controlled another pass into the east from the west, but that was located just off our border and inside the lands controlled by the Gardeners...in other words, not my problem.
Won't stop me from keeping an eye on the place of course. Or building something to keep an eye on the place. Can't be too careful with the politics of the Seven Kingdoms.
Lyam gave me a look. "That is easier said than done. Would you have some sort of plan into taking this castle?"
"I have the beginnings of something resembling a plan." But I needed to find that mountain path Robb had found and a navy and a well trained army. In other words, I was a few years away from taking it, hopefully, I would never have to take it when Aegon comes knocking.
What I was doing was going to be meaningless anyway. Getting the Riverlands prepped up for future conflicts, just a few months, may haps even weeks (or years) before Aegon makes his landing and forges an empire for himself and incestuous family.
"What of the south then?" Ser Franklin asked.
I just shrugged my shoulders. "I was hoping you lot would have something in mind, because I'm lost."
Ser Franklin and Lyam just merely shared a look between each other and then between all of us and that was all that needed to be said on that subject. It seemed we were going to have to be flying on the seat of our pants in terms of anything relating to our borders with the Durrandons and Gardeners.
"If that's all my lords, I think we can call it a day for now."
I needed rest.
***
When it came to the Storm Kingdom, I had caught something of a break. I had been worried sick about them trying to take what in canon would be called the crownlands, straight out from underneath me, but it seemed I had been stressing over nothing.
Argillac was too busy enjoying himself warring in the Disputed Lands against the Volantenes, which left his daughter in charge of the Storm Kingdom and considering that her father had taken fighting men across the narrow sea, I doubt Argella was at all interested in starting a war at home whilst her kingdom was also involved in a war abroad.
Especially if her father was to ask for reinforcements.
I was so hoping a butterfly would do something and a random arrow strike Argillac down. Sure, the Storm Kingdom would properly get torn apart in a civil war as some lord or another tries to claim the Storm Throne for himself from Argella, but whatever, chaos abroad was better than chaos at home.
Bloody hell, I can see my foreign policy forming right now and I didn't like what I was seeing. Not that I objected to what it was, but because I doubt I had the brains to pull it off. I was no chess master or anything resembling some sort of magnificent bastard.
Instead, I was more likely to be played than be the one to do the playing.
Still though, Argillac being away from home? I would take that one small win and use everything in my power to make sure I don't get dragged into a war when he comes back.
Hm, perhaps I should send out some feelers to the Gardeners or Dorne? Pressure him to play nice with the threat of an alliance that surrounded him from three directions?
Something to think about, I suppose.
***
Blake Rivers was an intelligent looking guy, a bit scrawny, but it was easy to tell that he was packing some rather lean muscles. Probably something that he built up working in the Wheel Tower of Riverrun. Unsurprisingly, Blake was the bastard son of a Tully household knight.
His father had packed him off to the Citadel to hide the shame from his wife, but he never actually finished forging his chain. He only had one ring to his name, a white steel ring, signifying his mastery in the art of engineering.
I suppose that such a background would be needed to maintain and run the Wheel Tower. Probably some of the most advanced in engineering in Westeros at work in that tower.
He was rubbing at the stubble of his chin as he stood in front of me. "I think it's doable, my lord." He blinked for a moment. "I mean, your grace. Apologies for that."
"It's fine." I said with a placid smile. "I'm not even used to it yet, so I can't blame you, someone who has known me since I was nothing more than a child." We shared a chuckle between the two of us. Being humble can go a long way, as long as I knew when to brag. I could do that. "So the forges and smithies?"
"It's never been done before. I don't think such a thing has ever been thought off." He said, to my complete and utter surprise. Who could have guessed something like a water powered forge had ever been thought off in the entirety of Westeros in it's long history? Not me for certain. "I'll need to speak to Mikken back at Riverrun for some of the more technical details, but we should probably be able to build something for you to inspect soon enough, provided we have the materials."
I nodded my head. "And of the other thing?"
"The printing press?" Blake Rivers mouthed the words as if tasting them. "We'll work on that as well, your grace. But which would you like first?"
"The forges." I said without missing a beat. Those could very well be the difference between life and death for me. "The printing press can wait. I want the forge first, the rest can wait for now."
He nodded his head. "Then I better make my way back then to Riverrun and make a start." He gave me a formal bow before he left. "Your grace."
Maybe I should have asked him to work on the printing press first? The Faith was still influential and had a lot of substantial powers at this point in time. I think the ability to be able to print out hundreds or was it thousands of the equivalent of the Bible here, whatever it is, could prove to be something of a soft diplomatic option that could get me a lot of influence.
Eh well, already made my choice, might as well live with it for the moment. No point in complaining about split milk.