Preparations for war
Middle of May in Rohan, year 3018 of the Third Age:
The orcs from Mordor had once again tried to steal black horses from the herds of Rohan, and at the moment, some of the members in the younger generation of House Martell were helping a few of the Rohirric warriors outside Aldburg to slay the orcs that had been brazen enough to come so deeply into the kingdom.
"Fucking orcs!" Obara screamed in fury as her stallion galloped after the last orc spotted trying to escape alive from the battle. Proving her paternity, she drove her spear deeply into the back of the orc, then a second and third time in order to ensure that the orc would not be able to fake its death.
"Sis! We have gotten back all the five black horses that were almost stolen from this herd!" Nymeria Sand called, where she and Tyene arrived with the five horses between their own mares and a few younger men who had been sent to get the horses back.
"Good, this should be enough for now. Honestly, for those damn creatures to show up when Lord Théoden, Éomer and Éowyn are gone to Dol Amroth for the wedding…!"
If everything went as it should in the hereditary princedom that was part of Gondor, then Éomer had wed Lothíriel ten days ago. Two days after the wedding, then the new couple, his sister, uncle and their esort would return to Rohan because as the Third Marshal of the Riddermark, Éomer could not be away from his duties for too long.
"It is a little sad that Tia Elia and Théodred were not able to come with their children, but they are the ruling King and Queen Consort after all. And there is this coming war to worry about, they can not leave Rohan without a leader. And cousin Aégnor would not be very useful as a leader yet because he is still a child not even eight years yet and will not be a legal adult until that ten more summers have passed," Tyene said, helping to check on possible injuries that the men could have gotten. Her knowledge of poisons was closely related to the opposite, what sort of herbs and what else that was needed in medicine, so it had been no bigger surprise that her padre Oberyn requested her to stay low on her beloved poisons for a while and instead helping to make things that would be far more useful in war, such as herbal mixes to medicines for numbing pain, preventing infections that could become fatal and the sort.
"Miss Tyene, can I ask you something?"
Dunsig, the eldest son of Erkenbrand and Sunniva, was a youth the same age as Rhaenys and old enough to start riding with the adult men in a Éored, and while he did not exactly have a romantic crush on the third-born Sand Snake, he still hoped that she could tell him more about Dorne.
"What would you like to know this time, young man?"
He had to think a little to find the right words:
"Have there ever been...an event where someone has tried to usurp House Martell as the ruling family of Dorne? I mean, not every Ruling Prince or Princess may have the best of reputation as a legacy after their deaths, and not everyone may have been completely honest characters."
Oh, that was something she could answer without trouble. Abuelo Ihsan would never forgive any of his sixteen grandchildren if they did not know basic facts about Dorne and its long history.
"The three children of Mors II Martell who succeeded each other were not popular rulers, because their respective reigns were marked by wars both within and around Dorne. It did not help that they attempted to outlaw the Rhoynar language among the orphans of the Greenblood river. In the end, the third sibling, the younger sister, found herself murdered by a Sand offspring to a second-cousin of hers, and the act was still carried out despite that he would lose his life for the murder, because the ruling Princess intended to kill her relatives for a false claim of treason."
The Red Princes, as the three siblings were known to history, did not leave any living descendants behind, because no one accepted their offers of marriage and too many feared that the possible children would take after their parents in behavior.
"...did the new Prince, or Princess, have to order their own son executed for the murder that allowed the regime change?"
She did not blame Dunsig for thinking of such a depressing scenario, and shook her head slightly to show that it had not been a parent forced to order the death of their own child.
"It was a bastard nephew to the new Prince, but yes, he still was willing to give up his life for the sake of Dorne and knew that it was better for a bastard to take all the blame instead of an uncle who needed to keep his hands clean and free from the sin of kinslaying. He confessed to the crime, as well the motive, yet did not show any fear at all as he was taken outside to have his head removed from the body."
It was a sad tale, but also a lesson in that sometimes, even the horrible crime of kinslaying may be the only way to prevent further disaster.
Meanwhile, in Edoras:
Inside the royal bedchamber of Meduseld, Rhaenys was looking into a bowl of water that the maids had not yet taken out after that her mother and stepfather had dressed for the day. But the amber colour on her eyes revealed that Mara was doing this, not the daughter of Elia.
"They are doomed," she whispered at seeing what she had tried to find earlier, "the markings of death are upon them both. Some form of gold for the brother, and a pregnancy at a far too young age for the sister. None of them shall live to expand their family name and legacy."
It was Viserys and Danenerys Targaryen at their current temporary home in Essos that she had found in the water mirror, and Mara could see that neither one of the last two official Targaryens had many years left to live. The death by gold for Viserys was a bit tricky to figure out in its exact form, but she did not doubt that Daenerys would be too young and physically immature to be able to survive the dangerous outcome of a pregnancy.
"I am terribly sorry, little uncle and aunt for this current life of mine, but there is nothing I can do for you two. The war against my fallen Father and the Dark Lord he now serves, is far more important than you, or the rights to the Iron Throne you would have if Aegon and myself had been killed by the men sent by Tywin Lannister. Your lives are outweighed by the needs of so many others who will suffer in this war."
No matter what happened in the war against Sauron, Viserys and Daenerys would be the last thing the Martells would think about. If the last two Targaryens tried to act, then they would be the problem of Robert Baratheon and the others who preferred him and his line as the royal dynasty of Westeros. Mara did feel compassion for the unfortunate uncle and aunt she had in this life, but sadly they were not important compared to all the grand events that would soon take place. Unless taking back the Iron Throne by a miracle, they had nothing at all to offer, and any idea of a marriage alliance was out of question because they were the result of two generations of brother-sister incest, which the House of Eorl would never accept in a spouse when their famous horse breeding had taught the Rohirrim about the dangers of inbreeding, and House Martell had not forgotten the actions of Aerys and Rhaegar.
Outside the Golden Hall, did Elia and Lysa have a talk about how things were going.
"You have sold nearly all the valuable dresses and robes in the wardrobe you had as Lady Arryn, in order to raise money for the war?"
That was a bit surprising, but also a sign that Lysa was slowly letting go more and more of her past life in Westeros to fully transform herself into a lady of Rohan to the best of her ability.
"Yes, the payments have all been given to Arianne and Daemon, officially as a thank-you gift for House Martell fostering my children, but in reality as a contribution to the finances we must expect. After all, we need to pay for the iron weapons and armours, the amount of food for all the warriors, and we will need medicines to help the wounded to not add to the number of deaths."
Elia was impressed by how far Lysa had been thinking, about what she could do to help Rohan and Dorne in secret. This proved that the younger daughter of the late Hoster Tully could make some plotting on her own, under the very nose of those who did not realize it.
"My only complaint for the future is that the Vale nobility have the nerve to demand me to show up with my children in half a year, because a tourney for squires is going to be held at the Gates of the Moon! Without doubt, they will expect poor Celia to appear pleased with meeting Harrold Hardyng again and for him to be formally named the heir to Eorl though that damned betrothal Jon Arryn chained her into when she was only one and a half year old!"
Given that Harrold Hardyng clearly expected to become the next Lord Arryn, with Celia as his wife, if the eleven years younger Eorl was to die without issue or before his majority, Elia could understand that Lysa did think too fondly of the possible future her oldest daughter would face.
"Truly regrettable that a betrothal is difficult to break without serious consequences, especially given that Harrold is the only remaining close relative to the current House Arryn, or else I am sure that we could have claimed a future marriage between Celia and Trystane to save her from a unwanted marriage with Harrold, they are only a year apart in age and seem to get along well when they have met so far, I think."
Lysa nodded in agreement with a slightly sad look on her face, Trystane may be a second son and could not expect much of a inheritage outside a keep of his own somewhere in Dorne thanks to Arianne now being the ruling Princess with Quentyn as her heir unless she had a child of her own, but the middle son of Doran and Mellario had always been kind to Lysa's daughters without any mean comments of their disabilities.
"I am very tempted to write a letter to Edmure and Lynesse, with the formal request that Harrold is to be a guest at Riverrun for some time after that damn tourney. Let him see how "wise" it truly is to be mean to the young heirs of a far higher-ranking House and risk having his intended knighthood be refused until he is several years past his majority."
Maybe that threat about not becoming a knight at a young age, would be a lesson Harrold Hardyng needed to poke a hole in his self-image about being the heir presumptive to little Eorl.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
The following day, the group led by Théoden, Éomer, Lothíriel and Éowyn was welcomed to Aldburg by Laywyn and Morwen, who had been on a journey around Rohan to check so things were well. The Queen Mother may be 96 years old, clearly reaching this high age because of her bloodline from Gondor, but she refused to be seen as frail because of the passage of time.
"Grandson, exactly what happened to make your young bride have her arm in a sling like that?" Morwen commented when Éomer carefully helped Lothíriel out of her saddle and the old Queen Mother noticed something that had been hidden under the long cloak the Princess wore.
"Teamed up with Éowyn to scotch a couple of orcs in an attempt to attack our escort when we passed the border. Lothíriel made good use of slamming down a shield on the orcs from behind on her horse even if her inexperience of such movements understandable caused some sore muscles."
"Good. Proves that you have not married a scared little wallflower who needs others to protect her all the time, Sweostor-sunu," Laywyn grinned, and did not seem surprised by Morwen smacking her shin with the cane the Queen Mother used those days for walking. Then again, the former Queen Consort of Rohan had been doing some form of discipline to her five children as soon as they started to walk on their own. Even with only the two oldest still alive, some things never changed.
"I am glad that I was able to help in some way," Lothíriel spoke up in a clear voice, then made an understandable grimace of pain as a bolt of pain shot through her arm from a careless movement. It seemed like this pleased Morwen, and she guided them towards the great hall where Éomer lived, so the new mistress of Aldburg could meet the household servants and other important people.
"Normally, you would have been presented for the court in Edoras because you now are the wife of not only the Third Marshal, but also the first-cousin of the current King. Alas, the threat of orcs and their raids are not a joke, so I am afraid that you will have to focus on the hope of motherhood."
Lothíriel understood why. With a war hanging over the Free People of Middle-earth, they needed to focus on ensuring survival and hoping to lessen the number of lives that would be lost in battles.
"Grandmother. We have the help of Elia, her family and her homeland. The situation with Mordor is not as bleak as it could have been without them," Éowyn spoke up, hoping that her new sister-in-law did not suddenly feel unsure about the great responsibility that now rested on her shoulders.
"Yes. It could have been far worse."
Meanwhile, Oberyn was overlooking the last transport of the secret wildfire cases to Helm's Deep.
"Exactly what is this liquid intended to do, Prince Oberyn?" Erkenbrand wondered, given how carefully the Dornish soldiers under the command of his Queen's younger brother handed everything. They had travelled by night, the carts were filled with sand to lessen any jousting of the jars at all, and there was a strange order about the vax-sealed jars needing to be placed in a water-filled store room.
"Wildfire is a flammable liquid, and very dangerous because once it takes fire, it will burn for a very long time. The old King of Westeros, the first father-in-law of Elia, used it to executions and seems to even have planned to burn down the capital with this liquid on a mass scale, based on that my cousin Holly so far have found over five hundred of those jars, often well hidden, in various places."
If planning to burn the whole of King's Landing and its people to the ground rather than letting the rebels take the capital city, then there was little doubt that Jaime Lannister truly had been right to kill Aerys before anything such happened on his orders.
"In other words, we Rohirrim are best to not handle this, right?"
Oberyn nodded to show how serious this was.
"For everyone's safety, yes. Elia would not be happy if something happened without control."
Few doubted that Helm's Deep and the Hornburg could be needed in the coming war, and perhaps the wildfire could help to make the Rohirrim and Dornish the victors in a battle outside the fortress instead of their enemies.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note: Sorry to those who wanted to see the wedding between Éomer and Lothíriel, but the Martells and House of Eorl needs to focus on the preparations for the coming War of Ring
Dunsig is a Anglo-Saxon male name meaning "Dark victory"
The murder of the third sibling among the "Red Princes" by a bastard relative are meant as a nod to the GOT tv show, but here the consequences was far more realistic; the murderer was executed even if he did the murder for a good reason, and there was other Martells around who could become the new main branch of House Martell because Nymeria of Ny Sar had five children, four daughters by Mors and a son by Davos Dayne. Unless only the oldest daughter, the mother to Mors II, was married with legal children, there is no way the "Red Princes" would have been her only legitimate great-grandchildren around in their era!
Reminder: Viserys will have his canon death, and Daenerys will sadly die in childbirth in this AU because she was married at 13, likely not long after getting her first monthly visitor as a sign of entering puberty and already pregnant when she turned 14 years old. Since I am aiming for a more realistic setting, the Targaryen incest in the two previous generations, her pregnancy at a such young age and immature body is not very promising for her survival