Theon
Hammering echoed in the yard of Castle Black. Cotter Pyke and his entourage of twenty had arrived just in time to see the completion of the "great parliament". After the old bears death there had been much animosity between the old corws and the black lions. It was customary for the commanders of each keep to cast their votes for all their followers. But following this law would have ment first and foremost bloodshed. With most keeps being full of black lions, but commanded by old crows there was no way to garuantee that the elected Lord Coammnder would be supported by his men. After armory Lorch's desertion Maester Aemon had made a suggestion to Bowen Marsh, who for the time being held the title of Lord Commander. To prevent further desertion by the lions each keep was to hold its own election. Each man was to cast his vote for one man from his keep he trusted to make a good decision. Each keep was to make a list of each elector and how many men he represented. The delegations from each castle had to include each men listed.
Bowen Marsh for the sake of keeping the peace had agreed. The only problem had been how they would hold discussions. The hall was not built to hold so many men. Theon had suggested filling the yard with benches, but soon it had become clear that the ones in the last row could neither see nor understand what the men on the central podium said. That is until Lord Piggy had again show, oh how smart he was. Using spare wood still left over they put raised each row of benches a little higher then the one before. The last bench was elevated 20 feet of the ground.
As Theon made his way to the podium he saw Sam grinning smugly. You just wait till I am Lord Commander one day, Piggy, Theon thought. One day you will be my servant and then I will pay you back for all this. Thinking you are so much smarter and better then me are you?
"Hey, Theon" Sam greeted him with a smile. "Are those the last parchments?" Sam tried to take them from him, but Theon held them close to his chest. "I carried them all the way from the library. I think I can carry them a bit more." Sam just shrugged inresponse and went to help Donal Noye, who again expressed his happiness about being able to be a smith again for a few days.
Theon put the parchment unto the table on the central podium. He turned and saw that the ranks were slowly filling. In the first row sat all keep commanders plus Othel Yarwyck, the first builder. They sat from left to right in the order of their keeps. From Mallister to the left to Pyke on the right. Some looked gruff, others thoughtful very few looked pleased. Of course only few had managed to get the almost anonymous support of their keeps and hence most felt inginated by the fact that they had fewer votes then they thought belonged to them. Now the ranks above them filled. Each entourage took seat directly behind their commander. Once they were seated the last three rows were filled with men from Castle Black. The rest of the garrison stood in the yard, each with a token to cast for a vote.
As all took their seat Maester Aemon stepped forward. "It has been a long time since the last Lord Commander was elected and an even longer time since the realm had been in such turmoil during an election. But remember brothers: We are guardians of the realm and take no part in inner squarrels. May the Lord of the realmdecide who is king and who is not." Murmurs came from some Lannistermen. Aemon smiled. "I have seen many kings come and go in my life and I can tell you that sadly one is almost just like the other." More murmurs. The fool will get himself killed, thought Theon. "The election will proceed as follows: We go through the entourage from each castle from West to East and each will be able to put forward names of brothers they nominate. My assistants," he gestured towards Theon and Sam " will take down all names and make a list. Once we are done the list will be read out aloud. Afterwards we will start anew with each elector casting his vote for one of the nominees. Should the required mayority of two thirds not be achieved then the brothers of castle black will be asked to cast their vote for the man they prefer. I and my two assistants will count these votes while being supervised by Daven Lannister and Jaremy Rykker two honorable men, who both won't stand for election. Once the votes are counted Bowen Marsh in his capacity as first Stweard will read the outcome to the assembly." Theon groaned. He knew that by the end of the day they might have had three rounds of voting with no winner in sight. In the end they managed two. By then most men had dropped out of the race. He looked on his parchment.
STAFFORD LANNISTER: 2245, ALLISER THORNE: 762, BOWEN MARSH: 234, DENYS MALLISTER: 430, COTTER PYKE: 482, EDDISON TOLLET: 27. Stafford had lost many votes when Yarwyck and Buckwell had come out to support Thorne. But still anything was possible. As Thoen made his way into the hall he saw that the different groups had already separated the tables. The looks they threw his way made it clear that he was welcome with none of them. The only table were he could sit was the one Samwell, Aemon and Benjen occupied. He hesitated, but then he sat down next to Sam. Benjen, who had been talking with Aemon threw him a dirty look. Theon was ready to stand up and go,but then the two men resumed their conversation.
"I just wished you had not withdrawn." Aemon said. "Many men would have come out to support you."
"I will not stand just to get elected. I only let myself be voted on in the first round so I could voice my opinion that we should go out for a great ranging to see what is beyond the wall. Face Mance raider and find out what happened to Smallwood. But it seems our first ranger screamed me down. The only one of the current candidates who supports my idea is Pyke. And his votes are not enough to win."
"Not the votes in this round." Sam threw in.
"Yes, but Pyke will be thrown out of the race eventually. Alisser will come out in support of Stafford Lannister tomorrow and we will be doomed to follow his ridiculous idea of staying the wall and waiting."
Theon felt the need to cut in. "At least he no longer wants to ride out to crush the northern rebellion. Not after he saw the moving hand. And frankly what do we win with a ranging? Yes, it would be a grand gesture, but it would be no more then a gesture. We have the wall. The castles are being repared. Here we can hold against any storm."
Benjen considered him for a while. "We can hold against many storms yes. But if you are blind to the size of the storm, then you are bound to get blown away. Satfford may win with Alliser's votes. But Alliser's council will make him lose the wall, if the gods don't help him."
Theon was about to make a reply, but was interrupted by a thumping at Alliser's table.
"Bowen Marsh would like to make an announcement, my brothers."
The First Steweard raised his hand. "The first builder already supports the first ranger, now I will too come out in support of Alliser Thorne. In this there is dire need for a strong man who has known the wall and the wildlings for many years." With that he sat down. Murmurs started over at the Lannister table. "Well, that was unexpected." Was Benjen's only commentary.
The first vote the next morning showed the result of Marsh's shift. Stafford had fallen to roughly 1700 votes with Thorne not far behind him. Mallister and Pyke were almost unchanged. But more and more of their supporters called for unity of the old guard against the Lannisters. Alliser was the perfect candidate in Theon opinion. He was hard and experienced and, more importantly he stood above the two parties. He had support from lions as well as crows, while Stafford, Mallister and Pyke replied solely on their traditional base. As everyone left for lunch Theon saw Benjen talk to Mallister. Instead of eating with at the central table like the last day he now instead opted to join a faction. He entered the hall and turn right towards Thornes table.
"Hey Kraken, wo don't like the likes of you here." He heard black Walder call.
"Can't believe that after you couldn't have the Stark girl you are now sucking the Maester's dick." Emmon Frey.
All of them would pay some day. But first Theon had tomake a name for himself. And the best way to do that was to be on good footing with the Lord Commander.
He advanced towards Thorne. The old knight looked up. "A Lord Kraken, how nice of you to join me. It is truly sad that you would join me only once the tide has turned in my favour. After all those times we had together before I left here, I thought you might be more inclined towards my candidacy."
Theon indicated a bow. "Forgive me, but as Steward of the future Lord Commander I had to maintain an air of neutrality. But now that everything is as good as settled, I thought I may help you along just a bit."
"Help me along with what? Faking the numbers during the vote? Impossible Ser Piggy counts as if his life depended on it. And Maester Aemon does the counting in his head I am told."
Theon shook his head. "Why would I have to fake the count, if I can gift you the last votes you need?"
Alliser leaned forward. "And how are you going to do that, lusty Kraken?"
Theopn ignored the nickname. "Yesterday, when I ate with Benjen Stark I overheard Aemon urging him to throw his hat into the ring again."
Alliser made a dismissive gesture. "He won't do it. And even if he will, he will just split the vote from Mallister and Pyke."
"Not necessarily. I saw him whisper with Mallister earlier and the old man looked very interested."
"What are you implying?"
"Benjen will present himself as compromise candidate between Mallister and Pyke. That will lose you many of your crow voters. He is also pretty popular with the lions. Not your lions of course, but Stafford's lions. He may be able to throw on of the both of you out of the race. And I doubt that you could survive a one on one race against Benjen."
Alliser started to get exited. "Well tell me, Kraken, what do you suggest?"
Theon grinned. "Go to Mallister. Make him a better offer then Benjen. Promise him more men and the command over Westwatch-by-the-bridge. Any man can be sawyed if you offer him more power."
Alliser nodded a few times. "Yes, that may be workable. I will not forget this Greyjoy."
Theon was quite satisfied with what he had achieved today. He had made a man Lord Commander and ensured his future under the new regime. In his satisfaction he even missed that Daven Lannister was drinking together with Qhorin Halfhand.
In the afternoon voting started again. As many times before Maester Aemon called for nominations. Bowen Marsh stood up and said: "I nominate first ranger Alliser Thorne!"
Next was Cotter Pyke. The gruff man stood up and with a bellowing voice he called: "I nominate Qhorin Halfhand!"
Theon could just stare. He looked over at Thorne, on who's face realization dawned.
Mallister stood up next: "I too nominate Qhorin Halfhand!"
Theon did not understand. This made no sense. Even with Qhorin as candidate there was no way the election could be won.
Gawen Westerling stepped forward: "I nominate Stafford Lannister!" Nothing surprising there. With the old guard vote split like that the lion actually stood a chance to win again.
Next was Dolorous Edd: "I am very sad to say, that I must withdraw my candidacy, because I think that my utter foolishness would bring disaster on all that follow me. That is my luck after all. So I apologize in advance to the man I will now nominate should it bring bad luck to him." Edd raised his finger at pointed at the man who had grown a beard to protect himself from the cold. The man who looked every inch the lion he was. "I nominate Daven Lannister!" A commotion started on the yard. Aemon gave Sam a sign and the fat bastard started hammering on the table with a wooden bat. "Order! Order!" Slowly the crows calmed down. Swords that had nearly been drawned returned to their scabbards.
Aemon spoke up again. "We must hear every nomination in peace and respect the decision of every man. Brother Tollet has chosen to nominate the young lion Daven Lannister. So be it. If there are no more nominations we now must hear whether the nominees accept. Alliser Thorne?" "I accept." "Good. Qhorin Halfhand?" The old ranger stepped up unto the platform. "As much as I wish to lead you all beyond the wall to challenge what ever is outthere, I know that I cannot gather the support to win. Therefore I withdraw in favour of a man who promised to do all that. I withdraw in favour of Daven Lannister."
Now Theon understood. His eyes looked for Benjen and found him. His eyes had returned to the discgust he ever saw Theon with. Theon had been played. He had been played and now payed for his mistake.
"Very well." Aemon called. "Stafford of House Lannister. Do you accept your nomination."
The old man stood up. "I am an old man and will not be able to fill the position for long. What the watch needs most of all is consistency and long reigns. I withdraw in favour of my son Daven."
The voting after that was merely a procdure. When the sun set in the west Daven walked up onto the platform and spoke for the first time to his followers.
"I swear to you: No desertion will be tolerated. No politics will taint my rule. My thoughts will begin and end with the needs of the watch. Tomorrow I will send a host to retake Sable Hall and bring the traitor Lorch to justice. And once the wall is save again we will ride out. We will ride out north and find our enemy!"