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Dragon's Keep, War Room, 2nd month 298 AC:

Daeron, Daenerys, Sers Oswell and Barristan, Luciferys, Aurane and Stannis as well as a few Legion officers and the like were gathered in the war room at the top of Dragon's Keep to discuss the new phase of expansion that was to be done this year, Daeron himself stood at the head of the table, a stack of letters from Varys lay scattered around him.

"These are not good news Your Grace", Stannis said as he read one of the letters (detailing the current build up of military forces in the Ghiscari Empire). "Even had they been our only foe we would be hard pressed to fight them, let alone defeat them".

Noises of protest (the Smalljon's amongst the loudest), immediately tried to shout Stannis down until Daeron raised a hand for silence.

"Lord Stannis speaks the truth. We have five Legions, with two more on the way, most of whom have never been tested in true battle. Were we to pool every man available to us, from legionnaire, unsullied or sailor we would, at best be able to field sixty-five, mayhap seventy-thousand men, against the full might of the Ghiscari Empire and their sellsword allies who are backing the Blackfyre pretender…even with Dragons we would lose".

A gloom settled around the room at his words, perhaps they thought Daeron was falling to despair, in that case they would be in for a big surprise.

"Our strength is in the fact that we have the most powerful navy, and a strong defensible position, we have three dragons and some of the finest military commanders in the world…and what's more we have the opportunity to cripple the Ghiscari and the Dothraki for decades".

Eyes widened at that and furious whispers broke out. "How would we do this Your Grace"? Aurane asked as he wracked his mind for ideas.

Daeron grinned as he pointed out a spot on the map. It was the mouth of an unnamed river not too far from the island of Ibb. "We are fortunate that we are in the middle of the Dothraki raiding season. Once the season is done, Khal Drogo will return to Vaes Dothrak to seek out the blessing of the Dosh Khaleen to wage war…he will return to nothing but ash".

"Why would he seek war against us Your Grace"? Stannis asked.

Daeron glanced at the dour Baratheon for a moment before returning his gaze to the map before him. "Illyrio Mopatis, through various intermediaries has managed to convince Khal Drogo that Daenerys fits to a prophecy of a woman who will birth the 'Stallion-Who-Mounts-The-World', the Khal of Khals in Dothraki legends, so while the Dothraki raid to and fro across the continent he is spending his time adding weaker khalasars to his own rather than raid, once he returns to Vaes Dothrak he will quite possibly have a hundred thousand dothraki screamers at his command, and by that time we will have made our move".

Placing out small figurines of ships and men around the map Daeron continued his explanation. "Lord Stannis will take the third Legion and the two under training, along with half of the fleet and anchor up here –", he placed the models in question at the mouth of the river he had pointed out. "- using canoes, rafts and small boats the force in question will travel upriver until they reach the lake known by the dothraki as the Womb of the World, and during the night, they'll attack Vaes Dothrak and burn it to the ground".

Stannis leant closer to study the map. The plan was feasible as the river in question was surrounded by thick forests on both sides, and from the shores closest to Vaes Dothrak he could have an army attack it from multiple angles within an hour, and if they were careful they would be able to approach undetected in the thick of night.

"Just burn it"? Stannis asked.

Daeron sighed, he wished that he had another choice, especially considering the events of King's Landing which had claimed the life of his brother Aegon and his stepmother Elia, as well as nearly claiming the life of Rhaenys.

"For the ruse to work we must leave no survivors, or at least as few as possible, the Dosh Khaleen must be killed in their entirety. In addition you will be dressed as Ghiscari legionnaires, and you'll bring with you a number of the pirate scum we hold prisoner here as well, dress them in the same armour you will be using and kill them…leave the corpses behind you".

The men (and woman) around the table suddenly grew grim as they realized what he had planned, while nodding in understanding. "When the khalasars return and find their homes, the Dosh Khaleen and other inhabitants dead from what appears to be the Ghiscari they will turn their full might against them", Stannis said approvingly.

"Aye – ", Daeron nodded. "- An army the world has not seen for an age will descend upon the might of the mightiest empire in the east, a war that can quite possibly last decades will embroil them, and keep them off our backs. The Blackfyre boy wishes a war, and so we shall provide him with such a war that the mere thought of the word will bring him pain".

Cheers broke out at that and Daeron let the men enjoy it for a bit, though he did not share their enthusiasm. Women and children would die from this, but he knew that unless they did this countless more of his own people would suffer the same fate or worse, and from the grim looks on Dany, Stannis, Oswell and Barristan's faces they too shared his opinion of this plan, necessary, but distasteful.

"While Stannis does this, Dany and I will take up our dragons and launch an attack on Tyrosh, Lord Aurane will coordinate with Lord Benjen to take Myr, while Lord Luciferys will take on Lys. Thanks to our earlier efforts the Tyroshy and Myrish fleets are all but annihilated and Lys has taken advantage of this by sending their ships all over Essos to capitalise on their reduced trading capabilities, as such, most of their naval response is also crippled, which will hopefully make it easy for us to land troops".

They spent a few more hours to work out the details before they all retired to start preparing, Stannis would sail with the tide, and the others would not be far behind him. War on a scale not seen since the War of the Ninepenny Kings or even the Dance was coming, and Daeron could only hope that it would turn out to his advantage, fortunately the latest missive from Varys had given him the perfect material in which to cause further destabilisation to the Usurper's rule.

While definite proof was as of yet not available, the mere whispers that the Usurper's children were bastards of incest by the Queen and her Kingslayer brother could cause immense amounts of damage. He had asked Varys to make sure that words would reach Renly, as well as to try to get Renly to try seizing the crown for himself (it was doubtful that the young Baratheon would fall for it, but there was a chance he would). In addition, if the information reached the ears of the wrong Septon (or right one depending on whose side you were on) Westeros could face a crisis of faith as the Faith Militant was resurrected and the pompous whoring windbags currently in place as the High Septon and Most Devout would no doubt take the side of the Baratheon/Lannister alliance who supported their opulence. Daeron would prefer to have the faith on his side, and the best way to do that (and to keep them from speaking out against his marriage to his sister) was to champion them (also getting the Faith Militant to rise would allow him to find their identities and remove the most dangerous ones of them before taking the throne), all in all, Westeros was slowly being steered towards Civil War, and once the Lions, the Stags and the Faith were in the midst of tearing each other to pieces Daeron would arrive and bring Order…

I apologise for how short this update is, and for how long it took to get out. I've not only been busy in my new job, but I've also been on a holiday for three weeks without computer access. Fear not however, I am in the process of writing a new chapter and you should expect it within a week, this short interlude was only so that you had something to wet your beaks a little.

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