Game of Thrones
Blood Betrayal
The Green King: Chapter III
"We've come a long way to find you Brandon, and we have much further to go."
Moat Calin. An ancient fortress, first built by The Children of the Forest, from this seat they called down the hammer of the water upon the neck. Creating the bogs and swamps that the Crannogmen have dwelled in for centuries. The First Men built upon the Children's work, and the fortress, though now a ruin has held The North for all of its history. For the only road into the North passes through Moat Calin, and no one has ever taken it from The South. Despite its history, no House claims Moat Calin as its seat, and the fortress usually sits empty, with only the crows and ravens standing sentinel.
However on The Red Queen's order, two hundred Northmen hold the fortress, and even a great army would be unable to breach the fortress before it was reinforced. So no great army comes for them; no legion marches up the Causeway, no fleet lands on its shores. The Moat sits atop The Neck, but it is still part of it. Surrounded by swamps and bogs, Moat Calin has long been held by The Crannogmen of the Neck. And no other Northmen, no matter how wise and well travelled can ever claim to know this part of the world better than the Crannogmen.
In the cold night, the clouds hide the moon. The murky waters surrounding Moat Calin are still, the few watchers on its walls do not notice the straw pipes emerging from the water, drawing ever closer to its walls. The pipes sit in the mouths of Crannogmen, allowing them to breath beneath the surface of the muddy water. One by one, the Crannogmen emerge from the depths, all around the base of the fortress. Caked in mud from the surrounding swamps they appear as little more than shadows, some squeeze through the gaps in the ruined stone to gain access to the castle, some quietly fling grapple hooks to higher walls allowing them to climb up to the walkways.
Poison darts fly through the air, as Sentinels fall at their post, one of the bog devils appears from the shadows, slicing the throat of a watchman, has his fellow Crannogmen begin to swarm through the sleeping quarters. Throats are cut, hearts pierced, as the Northmen sleep. The few that manage to get to their feet are cut down before they can draw their own weapons. It took less than an hour to despatch the sentinels and the bulk of the Northmen. Around a dozen men remained alive, tied and bound, the garrisons commander Lord Dustin amongst them.
With the castle subdued the Crannogman heave open the ancient gates of Moat Calin, the hinges creek open allowing a view of the Causeway to the south. A huge column bearing torches snakes its way along the great Causeway of the Kings Road. Direwolf and raven banners flutter in the breeze, as does the leaping trout of House Tully. At the head of this column, in the scaled black armour of his house, The Lord of Riverrun, Lord Paramount of the Riverlands and The Kings Warden of The North, Lord Edmure Tully. He lead his horse along the Causeway stone faced. At his side, in glistening gold armour with a flowing white cloak, the Lord Commander of The Kings Guard, Ser Brienne of Tarth. They lead a mounted force of a thousand riders, and behind them near triple that in infantry.
Edmure and Brienne crossed the threshold into the ancient fortress. "There is no honour in this." Brienne said with scorn as they rode past the bodies of the Northern defenders.
"Would you rather we wasted the lives of thousands of our men to achieve the same result?" Edmure spoke back coldly "We're serving our King, remember." Edmure dismounted his horse as he and Brienne were joined by their officers.
"Have the men set up a perimeter and make camp here." Brienne told a man in Tully armour, "We'll gather our strength first." The man bowed and hurried to execute his orders.
Edmure turned to one of the Crannogmen "King Brandon, offers his thanks." He nodded "Howland Reed made the right choice."
"King Brandon is the natural born son of Eddard Stark." The Cranogman replied "And the Three Eyed Raven, the Reeds have been sworn to him for a long time, his own son died for King Brandon… there was no choice to make, we made the oath, by Ice and Fire."
"Good" Edmure nodded "Send word to Howland Reed, have him bring his levies through Moat Calin to join us. We march North when they get here."
"Yes My Lord."
Edmure stood amongst the ruins of Moat Calin as soldiers ran about him, he felt a twinge in his arm, he brought a hand to the scaled armour on his forearm and peeled it back, a pinkish red scar the shape of a hand wrapped around his forearm, it began to glow an eerie shade of blue, as his eyes turned a shade of milky white.
"Lord Edmure." Brienne called to him.
His eyes immediately returned to their normal hue as he quickly pulled the sleeve of his armour back down over his arm "Yes?"
"I'll send a raven back to King's Landing, and let the King know we have taken Moat Calin."
Edmure shrugged "He already knows."