I own nothing but the plot. All the characters and rights belong to George R.R. Martin.
I'm back guys! and.. WOW. I didn't expect that many follows and readers in the first chapter of my first history. I'm so happy about it and I really thank you guys, you're amazing!
First of all, I edited the first chapter. The plot remains the same in general, but I needed to fix some of the grammar and also some things that looked pretty weird and weren't explained correctly (Thanks for your review, jean d'arc)
Let's go with the reviews!
Supremus85: Right, at the moment he is at Robb's side, but I have plans for him, and I hope that you will like it!
Feanor-dutch: Thanks for the praise buddy! I think that I corrected it, so I'll wait for your next reviews!
jean d'arc: Thanks for your review mate, I edited the chapter and I think that now my intentions in writing it are more clear!
Yohn I
It was a cold day in Runestone. Indeed, as the Starks are fond of saying, winter was coming. The seven kingdoms have been at war for the last months, and to his shame, the proud and honourable knights of the Vale were not involved.
But he will not stand for it.
When the war started and Tywin Lannister sent his mad dog Gregor Clegane to ravage the Riverlands, he called his levies, thinking that Lady Lysa Arryn will not tolerate the Lannister pillage in her childhood home. But he was wrong. A fortnight after the conflict started, he received a raven by Lysa Arryn telling him to disband his levies and wait. Naturally, he obeyed, at the time, Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark were alive, and he thought that it will be them who called for war or retribution.
But then, the news of Robert Baratheon death, Ned Stark imprisonment and Joffrey Baratheon true parentage reached him. He waited for days. He waited for a raven ordering him to gather his men and march in the aid of the Young Wolf, whose victory in the Whispering Woods caught the realm in surprise. Indeed Ned Stark's son.
But when months passed, he grew tired of waiting. Many lords in the Vale remembered the days when Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark fostered with Jon Arryn in the Eyrie, and he was one of them. The memories of the Battle of the Bells and the Trident were still fresh in Yohn's mind.
He couldn't wait. He will not wait. Lysa Arryn was a mad woman who will destroy the integrity and honour of the Vale. So he acted. He sent ravens to all his allies in the Vale, and now all of them were here, waiting in his solar. Redfort, Waynwood, Melcolm, Hunter, Templeton, Coldwater, Grafton, Arryn of Gulltown and Hardyng had answered his call, numbering almost two thirds of the manpower of the kingdom. Only the Corbrays, the Lynderlys, the Belmores, the Shetts and some other minor houses ignored him, probably because all of them wanted one of theirs to marry Lysa Arryn and become the Wardens of the East, having a great influence in the next Lord Arryn.
He entered his solar and sat at the head of the table.
"Thank you all for coming my Lords. All of you know why I summoned you here. Westeros is at war, the Lannisters are fighting against the Starks, Stannis Baratheon got his army destroyed in the Battle of King's Landing after the Tyrells declared for Joffrey Baratheon, and now the only real army who can fight against them is the one of the King in the North." He paused for a moment and looked all the lords. He had their attention, and he will not waste it.
"When I received the raven declaring Joffrey Baratheon a bastard born of incest between Queen Cersei and the Kingslayer, I thought about supporting Stannis Baratheon's rightful claim to the throne, but I can't support someone who burns people alive for not following his foreign fire god. Therefore, the only available option to me is siding with Robb Stark, declaring him King in the North, the Trident and the Vale, for he is the only king that deserves my loyalty."
Some of the lords nodded their heads
"I'm sure that all the lords present remember Ned Stark fondly, as an honourable and just man, but he was never my friend, and we don't know if his son is like him. Why should I pledge my house swords to him?" told Lord Grafton, the lord of Gulltown..
"Weren't you paying attention Lord Grafton?" said Lady Waynwood, who despite his age, was still a formidable woman. "Even If you don't like the Starks or the Tullys, your other options are a cruel bastard born of incest or a religious lunatic who will burn you alive for not following R'hllor. The Starks ruled the North for eight thousand years, and have been Wardens of the North for the last three hundred. They ruled fairly, they are honourable and look after his people. If they did it in the biggest and toughest kingdom, why shouldn't they be able to do it with the Riverlands or the Vale?"
"Some years ago I travelled to Winterfell with my son Waymar in his way to Castle Black to enlist in the Night's Watch. I remember the Young Wolf as a good and honourable lad. I can't guarantee you that he will be a perfect king who commits no mistakes, but I'm sure that he is the best of our options" said Yohn firmly.
All the present lords took their time to think about all the options, until one of them dared to break the silence.
"There is only one thing that is clear my lords. If we stand idle in this war, the winner will come to us, asking why we didn't help them. If it's the Starks, they will ask why Lady Arryn forgot his blood. If it's the Lannisters, they will demand and denounce us for not aiding the Iron Throne. If somehow Stannis manage to beat them all, he will demand total submission along with hostages. The course of action is clear for me. I will stand behind Lord Royce and the Young Wolf." said Lord Hunter
"If the Vale goes to war for a just cause and for someone who deserves our loyalty like Jon Arryn and Robert Baratheon did, house Redfort will answer the call. My swords are yours to command Lord Royce."
"We all think the same my lords?" Asked the Lord of Runestone.
"Aye", and all the lords present in the meeting nodded their heads on approval.
"There is still one think to discuss my lords" interrupted Ser Harrold Hardying, who despite being newly knighted and without lands by himself, was the heir to the Vale, his grandmother being the sister of the old Lord of the Eyrie, and with this, the closer relative to Lord Robert Arryn. "We will go against the orders of the current Lady of the Vale, and we will leave our homes barely unprotected. If we want to go to war outside the Vale, we need to go as a whole."
"It seems that your fostering with Lady Waynwood wasn't for naught, Ser Harrold" muttered Lord Royce, provoking a nod in gratitude of Lady Waynwood. "You're right, we need to go as one and have a clear path towards the Riverlands. The Gates of the Moon will be opened to us, as Ser Donnel Waynwood is now the knight of the Gate after Ser Brynden Tully left his post to defend his homeland. But Corbray concerns me, he will stay with Lady Arryn if he can take profit for it. I will hear your opinions on the matter."
"Sending a raven or a rider to the Eyrie asking for permission will be pointless, we know that Lady Arryn will deny it. For our last reports, Lord Corbray is the chief advisor of Lady Lysa, and I'm sure that he is already preparing all the lords and knights who are loyal to her to prevent us to join the war. We should ride to the Vale with our army, showing our strenght, ask for parley and pray the gods that Lady Arryn hears us and avoids unnecessary bloodshed." said Lord Redfort.
"And if she refuses? Storming the Eyrie will be barely imposible, the fortress has never been taken, and even if we destroy the army of Corbray, we will be stuck with a long siege. And that is if we siege, I'm sure that many of us don't want the last son of Jon Arryn dying of hunger." bitted back Lord Grafton, who was barely convinced about joining the Young Wolf against the orders of her liege lord.
"We can't waste our time looking for all the possible options Lord Grafton" told Ser Templeton "We know what we must do. We know what is right to do. We should march as soon as our levies and men-at-arms are ready to depart. We should be able to raise around twenty thousand men without leaving our homes unprotected. They can raise less than half of it. If they don't want to be completely destroyed, they will side with us and we will convince Lysa Arryn to enter the war"
All the lords nodded in approval.
"Very well, if no one has to add anything, we begin the preparations"
The proud direwolf of the banner of house Stark stood in the walls of Harrenhal, with the mailed fist of house Glover at his left and the bear of house Mormont at his right.
Lady Maege stood silent, with a cup of ale in her hands. The She-Bear of Bear Island was gathering the men in order to march to the Twins, the home of the traitorous lack-wits of house Frey. She will go with three thousand men, hardened by the previous battles, leaving another three thousand between Harrenhall and the surrounding lands and keeps under the command of Lord Glover. A force who was not able to match the Old Lion should he march against the Riverlands again, but was sufficient to make him waste his time sieging Harrenhall with a real force, unlike at the start of the war.
She left her room and went to find Lord Glover. He found him talking to a blacksmith, who was apparently repairing his brestplate after he received a blow to the side by a Serret knight's morningstar.
"How are the preparations going, Glover?"
"They're almost done Maege. The lads are eager to fight, they grow impatient."
"That's good, they will need their spirit in the battles to come"
The King was marching with twelve thousand men to the Twins, half northerners and half riverlanders. Even with the three thousand defenders, they couldn't stand against a double assault versus a force five times theirs. It was a solid plan, but it left the southern borders of the Riverlands with a poor defense. Of the thirty thousand men that the Kingdom of the North and Riverlands has mustered at the moment, fifteen thousand was going to the Twins, three thousand at Harrenhall, six thousand between Riverrun and Pinkmaiden, and the other six thousand scattered between all the holds in the Riverlands. Even with the three thousand coming from the North, it was impossible to attack the south, where the Lannister-Tyrell alliance was more than sixty thousand strong. We beat them bloody at Riverrun, the Green Fork and Oxcross, but Tywin Lannister retreated to the crownlands with fifteen thousand men, and the Tyrells have more than forty thousand men-at-arms gathered near the crownlands, without counting the Redwyne fleet and the twenty or thirty thousand levies they can still muster in their flowery palaces. I wonder how the King will deal with them. He has a good mind for war, but even the brightest mind of Westeros would not beat Tywin fucking Lannister with half his numbers.
She looked at the men under her command, excepting some words before marching out of the castle.
"C'mon lads, let's kick some traitors arse! THE KING IN THE NORTH!" yelled the Mormont
"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"
"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"
"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"
They may be few, but they're as fierce and tough as the land that breed us.
And under the mists near the Gods Eye, the She-Bear started the tiresome march to the Twins.
So here we end this second chapter!
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