Chapter 25; This betrayal we have suffered, part 2
Characters of the chapter
Brienne of Tarth Knight of the Twin Kingdoms
Daenerys Targaryen, The Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains, Queen of the of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men of the South, Queen of the South Kingdom of the Twin kingdoms and Protector of the Realm
Evyrys Watchman Lord of the Upstart House Watchman
Jaime Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West
Jon Snow, also known as Aegon Targaryen and Jon Stark, King of the North Kingdom of the Twin Kingdoms
Podric Payne, Knight of the Twin Kingdoms, formerly squire to Brienne of Tarth
Jaime, Brienne and Podrick were observing the efforts of their army as they were assaulting one of the forts the Upstart House Watchman had built along the shores of Dorne. This one was the main one, where they expected to find the family members of House Watchman. Dornish forces were attacking most of the other forts of House Watchman, leaving the biggest and toughest prize to him. A few locations had had to be left untouched for the lack of troops to effectively lay siege to them. Those would be dealt with as soon as troops freed up, assuming their enemy was still there by that time.
While this was among the largest of the almost two dozen their enemy had, it was still just a thing of wood and sun dried tiles. But the fort had been well positioned, surrounded by jagged black cliffs on all sides, with only a single sandy path leading up to the gates. In addition approach from the south was completely cut off by the sea, the waters reaching right below the base of the wall.
This battle had already proven to be a tricky one. And even getting here had been hard enough. In addition to mercenaries of various origins, House Watchman employed a lot of Dornishmen in their army, and had wielded them to great effect. The first clash had occurred the instant Jaime's forces had set foot in Dorne, as they had been making their way through a narrow mountain pass. As soon as they were all in the pass, enemy forces had appeared ahead and behind his army, boxing them in. Additional foes had appeared overhead, dropping rocks on them, a barrage his troops could do nothing about except cower. The narrow area of battle had made matters extremely complicated, but fortunately Jaime had decided to go in expecting trouble, dividing his best soldiers to either end of his marching column. Those soldiers held on by the skin of their teeth, allowing him the necessary time to organize a meaningful response. It had taken the rest of that day and most of the following night, but eventually stubborn effort and the sheer force of numbers had allowed his troops to dig their way out of the trap, driving the enemy away and entering Dorne proper.
The ambush was an obvious indication that someone had tipped House Watchman off about the presence and intentions of the Lannister army. Their aggressive response lent support to Tyrions information about their supposed betrayal, though Jaime was not willing to declare the treason a proven fact just yet. He hoped this was not all some terrible mistake. Too many had already died for it if that was the case. At least he had to admit the timeline fit. House Watchman was the newest of the Upstart Houses, emerging much later than all the others, at a time the Imperium was already establishing a presence in Essos. It was conceivable that the Imperium had taken note of events in Westeros and had added their own Upstart House to the mix, one secretly loyal to them.
The battle at the mountain pass had been the first of several hit and run attacks by their enemy. They always hit his army hard, then vanished into the many nooks of their country, like a viper in the grass. Their foe also used scorched earth tactics. Villages they had come upon had been burnt to the ground, the inhabitants slain or driven off. Obvious water sources had consistently been poisoned with the corpses of dead animals and even those of people. Unnervingly House Watchman did not seem to care they were doing this to their own countrymen. More proof of their duplicity in Jaime's mind.
And of course, since this was Dorne they were talking about, the sun was the most reliable defense here, the heat and thirst adding a further strain to his forces, even at this time of year. Had he been here as an enemy of Dorne he had no doubt these factors would have likely whittled his army to nothing, like it had done to so many other invaders. Their bones would have been swallowed by the sands, never to be seen again. Fortunately this time he could rely on the aid of the Dornishmen. While most of Prince Manfrey's available troops were elsewhere in Dorne, some scouts and guides had been provided. Those had proven to be valuable beyond measure, guiding his troops from water to water, supplementing his army's food stores with hunting and foraging which was something only they knew how to do successfully here. Jaime for one was grateful for the help, even though he could see the Dornishmen were not happy to provide the assistance. They harbored an enmity towards the Lannisters that ran almost as deep as the one they felt towards the men of the Reach. The places from which they got their water were their secret, the key to defending their country from attackers, and they were not eager to show these hidden places to people who had once been their enemies, even if they were supposed to be on the same side now. And Jaime could not say his troops felt any differently about the Dornish. It was because of this animosity that this was the extent of the aid he had received. Any closer cooperation risked an incident. That much he and Manfrey Martell had agreed on in their correspondence. Queen Daenerys had done a great deal of work trying to bring the lands under her control closer together, but there were still lingering tensions, some of which ran back to a time before Aegon the Conqueror. Those tensions needed to be treated with caution and respect, lest they flare up at an inopportune moment.
The harshness of this terrain was why he was attempting an assault despite the difficulties this entailed. He could not guess the state of the enemy supplies, but in all likelihood they were better off than his troops would be if they stayed here for any prolonged period of time. This fight against House Watchman needed to be won swiftly, and then he needed to turn his army around and leave this forsaken place. It had made sense to call on him to help deal with this, since his was the closest army of decent size, able to match House Watchman's numbers. Tyrion had made the correct choice in that. Even so this was no place for his people to be. They did not belong here.
Jaime hoped that the Dornish attacking the other forts were having an easier time of this than he did, though he suspected they faced the same kind of difficulties in making an assault, since much of the coast of Dorne looked exactly like the sharp mess of cliffs it was here. Still, this needed to be done. Enemy troops left unattended would doubtlessly scatter into the wilderness of Dorne, or flee across the Narrow Sea to their Tevinter masters, if they indeed were in league with them.
The cliffs prevented the use of ladders, so instead he had troops ascending with climbing spikes and grappling hooks. But it was slow going, especially while being under fire from the ramparts at the same time. A sprinkling of dead soldiers in red and gold on the ground was the only result thus far. His best hope lay in the ram being brought to the gates. The route was too narrow for anything except the body of the ram to be moved up the path. The path also made several sharp turns, which caused no end of trouble for his engineers, the ram getting stuck more than once during the ascent. But his engineers persevered nevertheless, using heavy pavise shields to protect themselves, moving the ram past obstacle after obstacle. Several days had passed in the attempt, but now they were almost at their target.
"Come on, just a bit longer, you can do it…" Jaime muttered as he watched the ram's progress onwards, grinding his teeth together as the knot in his stomach grew ever tighter.
The engineers managed to reach the gates and immediately set to work on breaking them down. The ram struck the gate over and over, the doors holding together surprisingly well under the assault they were subjected to. Jaime grimaced as boiling water likely lifted straight from the ocean was dumped on the crews, killing or crippling many. But new soldiers took control of the ram after the attack, and the effort continued. After a time the rhythmic pounding against the gate began to be accompanied by a sound of breaking wood. Three more times the ram struck the gate, then the doors broke, falling off their hinges and collapsing inside the gatehouse. His soldiers dropped the ram, drew their swords and charged into the breach.
"We need to move! Come on!" Jaime said drawing, his blade.
"Right with you! Podrick!" Brienne shouted and together they ran towards the castle along with the rest of the army. As they climbed up the path they had to dodge arrows still being fired at them from the ramparts. The trio got through okay, unlike some of the other soldiers attacking with them. One inside the joined the chaotic fighting inside the walls. Jaime lost sight of Podrick during the combat, but managed to remain close to Brienne as they battled their way through the enemy.
With the defense broken and more and more Lannister troops pouring inside, the tide quickly began to turn in the attackers favor. But so far he saw no sign of any of the family members of House Watchman. Just waves of their grunts. And even then… the fighting was fierce and bloody, but he had a gut feeling the resistance was lighter than could have been expected based on the previous days spent here. Had they killed more enemies than they had thought or…? Gods, he hoped this would not be a repeat of what had happened during their last siege of Riverrun.
As the fighting was starting to wind down he and Brienne found themselves in a corridor, finishing of the last remaining enemies there alongside three Lannister soldiers. He had locked blades with a House Watchman soldier, metal grinding against metal as they pushed against each other. Then Jaime had an idea and punched him in the face with his golden hand, grimacing as he felt the impact carried to the stump on his arm. But the effect on the enemy was greater, dazing the soldier long enough for Jaime to put his sword through his middle. A second later Brienne struck another soldier across the body. As the soldier stumbled forward and collapsed on his knees Jaime finished him with a blow of his own. There were no more enemies in the corridor, and the sounds of battle around the fort appeared to have ceased.
"Wait… that's it?" Brienne asked, confused that it could be over so quickly.
"I was just noticing the same thing. I refuse to believe this is all of the enemies here. There must be more holed up somewhere, some hidden area of the fort. We just have to go find them." Jaime said. No sooner had those words left his lips when a new group of enemies rounded the corner on the far end of the corridor. Three in total, with uniforms unlike they had encountered on their foes thus far. The lead one raised a staff, a white mist beginning to flow from its tip, the air in the corridor cooling dramatically.
Sensing danger, Jaime pulled Brienne through a door into a small room just as a blast of intense cold swept the length of the hall, the three Lannister soldiers turned into ice statues.
"Ice. In dorne." Jaime registered somewhere in the back of his mind. Not even in the deepest darkest depths of winter had that ever been true. Not even on the highest of local mountains. He might have found the incident amusing had it not killed his troops.
When no additional spells followed he and Brienne took position on either side of the door. The room they had taken cover in was dark, so they were fairly hard to spot from the direction of the corridor, so long as they were quiet and still. And Jaime realized the enemy's attention had been captured by the soldiers, failing to note the two of them. Instead they were cautiously advancing along the corridors, the two others with the mage shattering the frozen lannisters with blows from their blades.
Jaime's eyes met Brienne's and he raised a finger to his lips. Brienne nodded slowly, understanding. They waited, the footsteps of their foe approaching. As the enemies were right at the by the pair hugged the shadows, grasping their swords a bit tighter but remaining still, holding their breath.
After the enemy had passed the doorway they waited a heartbeat more, then moved forward as one. The mage and one of the warriors were dead in an instant, struck from behind. The third one managed to turn and raise his sword a fraction, but Brienne was quicker, cutting him down as well. The two remained on guard for a time, their weapons at the ready, waiting for new enemies to show up. None came.
"Three taken, for the three that were lost." Brienne said as she knelt to take a closer look at these new enemies.
"Look at this. These appear to be Tevis." She pointed out. And indeed the mage had the sigil of the Imperium sewn to his coat.
"Well, well… that seems to confirm Tyrion's information. House Watchman is aligned with our enemy. I'd say the mage is an ambassador or advisor or some such. The other two? Bodyguards."
"Still no sign of House Watchman's Lord or his family." She commented.
"True, but they are far more likely to be here than anywhere else. We just have to find them." He said.
"Let's get back to our troops, see what updates they have to give us." He decided. That was exactly when Podrick ran to them, panting and sweaty: "My Lord, My Lord!" Thank goodness I found you!"
"Ah, Podrick, good. I was wondering where you might have vanished to during the battle. Tell me, are there remaining enemy holdouts that still need to be dealt with?" Jaime asked.
"That's what I came to tell you. The soldiers found a hidden staircase. The enemy is defending that place extremely fiercely. The Lord and his family has to be there." Podrick replied hastily.
Jaime frowned. Why would they flee underground like this? No matter how hard they fought at this point it would only delay the end for them. Unless…
"Oh gods... Brienne, you're with me! We need to get down there at once! Podrick, show us the way, then go tell the troops outside that the fort is to be surrounded! No one is to escape!" He quickly ordered, then the trio took off running.
Pordrick led them to where a moveable bookshelf revealed a staircase wide enough for three men abreast, circling downwards into the dark. The space was crowded with Lannister troops, Jaime and Brienne having to push their way past the mass of people. As Podrick had said, the enemy had fought hard for this place, many corpses from both sides complicating their descent. Finally they made their way down to where the fight was still raging, noting that despite their resistance the enemy was nearly defeated now, only a handful of them still alive. Jaime briefly locked blades with one of them before he managed to send him tumbling down the final stretch of stairs with a kick. At this late stage that was the last straw to break the enemy resistance, their last remnants cut down as they sought to retreat away.
They emerged into a wider space which confirmed Jaime's worst suspicions. On building this fort the enemy had dug themselves a hidden underground port, mined straight into the rock. It was just large enough for a single sailing boat, and more importantly completely undetectable from dry land. Thank goodness Jaime had had the sense not to try to starve the defenders out of here. With just a handful of smuggling vessels slipping in and out unnoticed House Watchman could have kept itself supplied indefinitely.
There was a single vessel in the port, one that had currently cast off and heading towards the opening out of the port. No doubt there was a larger vessel waiting somewhere on the open water to carry the passengers across the sea. On the ship Jaime spotted Lord Evyrys of House Watchman and what had to be his wife Laerya and daughter Naelyria, accompanied by a handful of their household troops. This was what the soldiers of House Watchman had given their lives to protect.
One of Jaime's soldiers threw a spear at the boat. It would have hit Evyrys, but at the last moment there was a glimmer of blue light around the boat's edges and the spear was knocked off course. Jaime cursed in his mind. The boat was protected by magic. Probably more workings of the Tevinters. As if those bastards had not done enough already. And by now the boat was too far for men in full armor to jump onboard, much less survive against the enemies onboard if they somehow made it. There were no ships close by that Jaime was aware of that could be alerted to try to intercept them. It seemed there was nothing to be done to keep their enemy from escaping.
With nothing else to do the two sides stood in place and glared at each other. That was, until one soldier of House Watchman handed a bow and arrow to his Lord. On seeing that the Lannister soldiers gathered around Jaime and locked their shields. But Evyrys did not take a shot at him. Instead he lit the arrow with a torch held by the soldier from earlier. Then, nocking the arrow, Evyrys turned to Jaime.
"Perhaps for a day you will celebrate on the field of battle. But against the power that has risen in the east… there is no victory!" Said the Upstart Lord.
It was at that moment Jaime realized something else about the port. The walls and floor were covered with piles of straws. And at their feet there was a thick, sticky black liquid. Pitch.
"Oh, SHIT! "MOVEMOVEMOVE! OUT!" He began shouting, sending everyone scrambling towards the exit.
Just as the sailing boat made it out of the port Evyrys sent the arrow into one of the haystacks. Is seconds the whole port was engulfed in a conflagration. Jaime and Brienne made it to the staircase just in time, as did most of their soldiers. A handful weren't as lucky. Fleeing the intense heat, they soon returned to the other end of the stairs. There they stopped to recover their senses and process what had occurred.
"Fire… why does it always have to be fire?" Jaime muttered. "So Lord Watchman managed to get away. Probably managed to evacuate at least some of their forces too. Unfortunate. But nothing we could have done differently."
"Right then. Let's get matters settled here." He then decided.
"You and you. Remain close by and make sure the fire doesn't spread further and that the smoke doesn't pose a risk to anybody." He commanded the nearest two soldiers.
"As for the rest of us, we still have more work to do. I want a tally of our casualties. And those of the enemy, so we know how much of a dent we have made to them. Find the castle larder as well. If their food stores look to be in a good state, have them added to our army's supply. Have armor and weapons collected from all fallen and sent to our quartermaster. Have the fort checked for other valuables they might have left behind while you're at it. Now that we are here we might as well take them. Everything you find is to be gathered together and accounted for. I want no random looting." He continued.
"Are we going to install a garrison here My Lord?" One of the soldiers asked.
"…No." Jaime decided after a moment of consideration. "We'll inform the Dornish, and they can send their own troops if they so wish. This is their country, so they have the right. And I doubt we are welcome to stay any longer than we are needed. We will sort things out here and move on to the forts that are yet to be engaged, in case enemies remain in those places. If those places are empty we will return home."
The soldier nodded his understanding, and the work began. It was in the course of this, as he was examining a written inventory of recovered items, when another of his soldiers came to him.
"My Lord, I… we… we found something. You… you had best come and see." The soldier said. From the soldier's demeanor Jaime could guess that this was serious, so he nodded and followed him. As he walked across the fort he noticed a banner bearing House Watchman's colors, a black circle in a field of red, tossed into the dusty ground, to be trampled under the feet of passersby. In its place was raised the three headed dragon of the Targaryens, followed shortly by the lion of House Lannister.
Moving on he was led to what looked like the private rooms of the Lord's family. His soldiers had broken open a locked wardrobe is their search for valuables. Within were smaller drawers that looked to be full of letters, archived correspondence most likely. He wondered why they had not been destroyed. Perhaps they had held out hope of being able to resist his forces, delaying the undertaking, then forgotten about it in their haste to flee. But what really caught his attention was a banner hanging from the back wall. It was a banner Jaime recognized instantly. It bore the three headed dragon of the Targaryens, but the colors had been reversed: A black dragon on a field of red.
"It… it can't be!" He gasped. Yet he could not deny this revelation made sense with other things they knew. House Watchman's ruling family was known to have the eyes and hair of Valyrians, as he himself had seen today. None had paid attention to that fact because they were said to originate from Volantis, where some still bore the Valyrian features. Furthermore they rarely left their forts, preferring to make their deals through intermediaries. And the official banner was too close a match to this one come to think of it, obviously a simplified version meant to hide the truth from outsiders until they were ready to reveal themselves.
The banner in this wardrobe was likely a private indulgence, for the eyes of Evyrys only, perhaps a select few others. Who knew how much time the lord of the house may have spent in this room, staring at this banner, dreaming of the day he could take it up openly once again. As for the staff, key individuals probably knew the truth as well. Enough to keep the others in line when the time had come for them to flee to Essos. But not so many that it would have become impossible to keep their true identity from spilling out, or that of their dealings with Tevinters.
Still, for all that this made sense, the discovery was almost beyond his ability to process.
"Oh Tyrion. If only you knew the kind of secret you stumbled upon…" He muttered. He was silent for a long time, thinking.
Then another of his soldiers entered the room. "My Lord. The Queen is here. She just arrived with her beast."
"Bring her here. She needs to see this." He said, finding himself unable to tear his eyes from the enemy banner.
Several days later…
Jon found Daenerys outside the encampment, arms crossed, staring at the moors of the North.
The moment Tyrions message about House Watchman's treason had arrived, she had ordered her forces to arrest the troops that were with them. The soldiers of House Watchman had reacted with violence, resulting in a brief battle. But the enemy had been unprepared for battle, the loyal forces of the Twin Kingdoms achieving an easy victory. The foe had been wiped out to the last man as per the Queen's directive. With the immediate threat dealt with Daenerys had departed to her Kingdom to sort out this situation, leaving command of her troops to him for the time being.
With nothing else to do he had returned to their original plans, awaiting for updates in the meantime. The fighting having come to a close the majority of Daenerys's army had been heading south with Grey Worm, the rest following the northerners back to Winterfell. He had been overseeing their army's unpacking of the camp for the day's march when he had noticed her dragon flying back.
Now he had found her here. Drogon had remained there to console her, sensitive to her moods as always. From the tension in her shoulders he could tell she was angry about something. That put some wariness in his steps. His wife's anger was something worth taking seriously at all times. The bodyguards that had arrived to escort their Queen wisely chose to stand a respectable distance away.
"Dany… you're back. How did matters go in the South?" He asked as he approached her.
"Blackfyres!" She snarled as her response, without turning.
"What?" Jon asked, not understanding.
"I went to the largest of House Watchman's forts right after Jaime Lannister's troops had secured it. They found materials that prove House Watchman is in fact House Blackfyre, and in league with the Tevinter Imperium." She explained.
"But… how can that be? Weren't they destroyed?" He asked.
"The male line was. But some always suspected the female line might have survived. No one bothered to go hunt them down because it was thought their claim to the throne was too weak. Which was true before my reforms." She said.
"In truth I don't know if this is the real thing or some pack of Volantene beggars the Tevi's lifted up to fill the role. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that they intend to make the claim, and the Imperium could use them to help legitimize their planned conquest. It would be easier for them than to try to rule through strength of arms alone." She added.
"Certainly explains why they did not wish to support us. They were saving their strength for when their real masters call upon them." Jon contemplated. "But if they are indeed Blackfyres, then why would they work with the Tevinters? For sure they won't hold real power if they win with imperial help. They'll just be puppets." He asked, still perplexed by this turn of events.
"Because bloody hells any Blackfyres remaining would no longer have the resources to start a sixth rebellion on their own." She said angrily. "Especially not with Tevinter seizing control of just about everything in Essos. But working with the Imperium they would have a chance to seize the throne they have always wanted. Perhaps the best chance they've ever had. Apparently it doesn't matter that the Imperium would be the true rulers through them."
"The worst part is that they escaped. Jaime Lannister was unable to catch them, or even all of their troops it seems. We will certainly be seeing them again." She added.
"It's just… incomprehensible." She said then, turning sad. "Qunari to the west of us. Tevinter to the east. Darkspawn to the north. And now apparently ghosts of the past reincarnated to the south. There's enemies everywhere we think to turn. How much time I spent staring at our maps, wondering, worrying about when Tevinter might try to invade. Turns out they had the first of their armies were here years ago, and we never even knew to suspect it.
"So many enemies. I just don't know how we can… I don't think…" She continued, her voice threatening to break. "I had dreams, have dreams, of a better world than we were born in. A more decent world. Yet everything I have tried to build is… fraying at the edges, falling apart. Even with Drogon at our side, I'm starting to wonder how we are ever going to win this."
"It just feels like… does this world find my notions so reprehensible that it calls upon the strongest powers it can muster to destroy me, and you along with me? Have I been a fool for even trying to make it better?" She contemplated bitterly.
"You're not a fool. You've improved the lives of a whole lot of people over the years. And at least you've tried to do something about the world. Me? I'm just some dumb Northman that likes to bury his head in snow and pretend all these problems don't exist at all unless it's right at my doorstep. I didn't even want to acknowledge the Imperium as a threat. Yet the more we learn of them the more it seems you were right all along: they were working on plans to invade us the whole time. If not for you I'd have never seen it coming until it was too late. No, if anyone had been a fool here, it's me." He said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Daenerys stood in place for a moment, then turned around and caught Jon in a tight embrace, which he returned.
"Gods, Jon… what are we going to do?" She said, burying her face into his shoulder.
"Survive. In whatever way we can. One task at a time. There are a lot of enemies facing us, but we need to remember what has gone right so far. We won against the Orlesians. We won a big battle against the Qunari. As you told me, the Blackfyres have been driven away. And most importantly we aren't alone anymore. We have allies helping us now." He said quietly.
"Yes. Yes. There is still hope for us. I'll try to keep that in mind going forward. It's just hard right now." She said just as silently, doing her best to find her resolve again.
"This break in the fighting could not have come at a better time. We need this." She added.
"We do. The army should be reaching Winterfell soon. A day or two." Jon said.
"Good. Once we are there I will go to bring Robb to us. I stopped by to see him at King's Landing while on my way to Dorne. He's doing all right, though a bit bored. Not a lot of children his age in the Red Keep currently. I think he misses the friends he made at Winterfell. And he kept on asking about the war. Tyrion hasn't told him much. Didn't think it appropriate for someone so young." She said. She briefly thought about mentioning the swift sentencing of Tyrion's traitorous informant, but thought better of it. Now was not a good time to go over such morbid things. And there was nothing to say about that. She had done as she felt was necessary. That was the end of it.
"Hmm. Well if we guard our words carefully I'm sure there are some stories we can share with him. And as for his friends… we had to send them away when we were under siege, but with luck they are back." He said.
"We can hope." Said she. With that they returned to camp.