Well it's been an interesting couple of weeks for me personally, but I'm back now with another chapter for you all and in my opinion it's one of my favourites so far. I hope you all enjoy it!
I own nothing but any OC characters. All others belong to George R R Martin and HBO.
The morning after the deaths of Ser Gregor and Oberyn Martell was as normal as any other. Tyland joined Sansa for an awkward breakfast usually filled with silence, although this time he felt like he should share some news with her. He dabbed his mouth with a napkin and said. "I have some news from yesterday's small council meeting." Sansa just looked at him without speaking. "About your brother."
"All my brothers are dead." Sansa said sharply.
"Your trueborn brothers, yes." Tyland agreed bluntly.
Sansa looked confused for a moment before her mouth formed a perfect O in surprise. "Jon."
"He is now the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch." Tyland explained. "He asked us for more men for the Watch. You should write to him, I will see that the letter goes on the next ship to Eastwatch."
Sansa thought for a moment before she nodded. "I should, I was… unkind to him as a child." She looked ashamed.
"The ship leaves in a week." Tyland explained. "You have time to think on what you wish to say."
Sansa nodded, and Tyland took that moment to excuse himself to get prepared for the day ahead, having a meeting with Tommen early on as well as a Small Council meeting to attend all before noon. As he walked past the table however he felt a hand on his arm, stopping him. "Thank you for telling me." Sansa said quietly.
Tyland nodded and began walking to the door again before he remembered something. "Ensure the Forrester girl has the babe tonight. Your Maester reckons you are recovered after the birth."
Sansa frowned. "I am recovered?" She asked him, her voice stern and accusing.
"Enough to conceive again." Tyland said plainly, ignoring the insolence. "I will visit you this evening." And with that he walked out leaving his wife alone, thinking on the challenges that day would bring.
The routines of the Kingsguard had begun to settle back in after the large upheavals of the past few months. Every morning Jaime would wake up early and greet the pair of brothers who had taken the night shifts outside the King's chambers and he would post the schedules for the other four. Then he would go down to the training yard for a quick spar before his Small Council meeting, before returning to the training yard for an hour with Tommen learning to wield a blade. The King would never be a natural, but he was learning.
Of course teaching Tommen to fight had been Tyland's idea, and if any idea came from the mouth of his eldest brother, Cersei would complain nonstop about it. It had got to the point that Jaime had barred her from the White Sword Tower, although as Jaime was learning one afternoon after the Dornish had left the Capital with Prince Oberyn's body, he learnt that his orders apparently only meant so much. He was in the process of letting Podrick Payne take his armour off when the doors opened, and Cersei walked in brazenly.
"Leave us." The Queen Mother commanded the squire, and Podrick gulped, nodded, and ran out of the room quickly.
"You shouldn't be here, sweet sister." Jaime noted, reaching around to untie the straps himself. He stopped when he felt another pair of hands begin to do the same and allowed Cersei to strip him of his armour.
"I am the Queen." Cersei told him. "Did you really think those pitiful guards would have kept me from here?"
He did, but now he could see that the thought had been foolish. He felt his chest plate loosen and pulled it over his head, placing it on the table. "What do you want, Cersei?" He asked, turning around to view her.
She was looking at her feet, her eyes looking saddened. "I want my son back." She whispered.
"We've spoken about this." Jaime groaned. "Tommen needs to learn how to fight. Joffrey fought against Stannis and the people respected him for that… for a while." He added. "Tommen must show the same willingness to lead, even if he never has to."
"He's a boy, a boy being ripped apart." Cersei spat, turning her back away from him. "Tyland, Margaery. All of them want to claw their way into him and he's too sweet to see the truth. He needs to be protected."
"He is being protected." Jaime insisted.
Cersei scoffed, turning back at Jaime to glare at him. "Tyland plays him one way, the harlot plays him another. You're letting them sink their teeth into him when you should be doing your job."
Jaime took a step towards his sister, a scowl beginning to form on his face. "And what is my job?" He asked her darkly.
Cersei had never been cowed by him though. "Protect the King from all threats." Cersei explained. "I know the histories, I know about the Lord Commanders who have stuck their blades into known enemies. You are letting them have at the King."
Jaime was so tired of this, and he immediately sighed. "Tyland is no threat Cersei. He won't let any harm come to Tommen."
"He is the one harming him!" Cersei raised her voice, before taking a deep breath and calming herself. "I could order you to do it."
Jaime's illusions of Cersei being able to do no wrong had long since shattered after their time apart, but this was a new side to her that he actively detested. "No." He snarled.
"I am the Queen…"
"The Queen Mother." Jaime snapped. "I take my orders from the King and his regent, who happens to be the Hand of the King that you are asking for me to murder. My own brother."
Cersei took a step closer and placed a hand on Jaime's chest. "He is our enemy. He is our son's enemy…"
Jaime gripped her wrist tightly and threw it away. "I am not a Kinslayer." He growled. "Do not speak another word of this, Your Grace. Or I shall have an interesting topic of debate for the next Small Council meeting." He ran his hand through his blonde hair exasperatedly. "He already wants to ship you off to Highgarden to never hear from you again, don't push him further, Cersei, you won't like what will happen."
His sister stood there almost dumbfounded for a fraction of a moment, before her lips pursed together and she looked at him coldly. "We used to be one, you and I." She said venomously. "Fine, if you won't help me save our boy, our last boy, then somebody else will." She didn't wait for a response, instead striding out of the room with grace, leaving Jaime alone to pray that his siblings wouldn't be foolish enough to fight amongst themselves.
The ravens had found Stevron's body the day before the siege engines had been built, taking out an eye and parts of the man's cheek and so Loren had posted a pair of guards to stand by the still swinging corpse to shoo away any birds looking for an easy dinner. It was horrible work and Loren felt bad for ordering it done, but the message needed to be seen.
Once the row of 7 short range catapults had been erected it was close to high noon. The sun was shining high in the sky as Loren and Ser Lyle went to inspect the builds, and when the latter was happy with them Loren himself took the length of rope and stood to the side of the middle weapon.
"PREPARE TO LOOSE!" Ser Lyle roared to the operators.
Loren took a deep breath and yanked the rope away from the machine, firing the heavy rock in its bucket towards the castle. The air was quickly filled with the other machines firing before the sound of heavy rock thudding against the castle walls was heard. Grinning, Loren handed the rope back to the main operator before saying. "Keep a steady pace everybody. I want old Walder Frey to feel his castle shaking!"
A small cheer went up as the machines began to reset, and Loren moved over to one side to allow his men to work without distractions. The weapons took an age to reset, but after a few minutes another round of stone was fired, and the booming thud filled the air again.
"How long do you reckon this will take?" Lambert asked, joining Loren.
Loren looked at the piles of heavy stones that had been gathered. "As long as it needs to." He said bluntly.
The actual answer was 7 volleys. As the reloading was taking place the gates to the Twins opened. Loren immediately withdrew Lionheart and screamed. "TO ARMS!" But the party leaving the twins was a measly pair of riders both wielding white flags. "Stand easy!" Loren called again, keeping his blade out but feeling more relaxed. The riders were brought to him, and Loren recognised the both of them. "Ser Ryman, Ser Walder." He greeted Ryman and Black Walder Frey. "I presume you have come to surrender?"
"We come to warn you to cease your fire." Black Walder snarled. "Or the might of the Riverlands…"
"The might of the Riverlands will fall down on us." Loren rolled his eyes. "Let us not insult the other, Ser. This war is lost, it is simply up to Lord Walder to decide how long he wants to drag it out."
Black Walder snorted. "This measly siege will not break the might of the Twins."
Loren shrugged. "Perhaps, if Lord Walder wants this over quicker I am more than happy to settle it with one-on-one combat for the hand of my wife."
Black Walder growled and spat on the floor mere inches away from Loren's feet. "You're nothing but an oathbreaker, Lannister. Offering to fight saddened old men, coward."
The sight of the phlegm enraged Loren. "Put up your steel, Ser." He stated coldly.
"We are envoys." Ryman spoke up then. "Calm yourself, Walder." But Black Walder Frey had a reputation. He reached for his blade and managed to withdraw an inch of steel when Loren struck and severed his hand. The Frey screamed as he brought his left hand to his new stump to try and stem the blood flow. Ryman whirled to Loren angrily. "We are envoys!"
"And he is still alive!" Loren raised his own voice, glaring at the new heir to the Twins. "I have repeated myself enough. Get your Grandfather to surrender fully and bend the knee to King Tommen, or I will do more than take a sword hand, I will destroy this branch of House Frey!"
Ryman shook his head angrily. "You will pay for this, Loren Lannister."
"Surrender." Loren snarled. "I don't want to hear another word from a fucking Frey until I hear the words 'I surrender'."
Ryman opened his mouth to retort, but he decided against it, leading his son back towards the castle. Loren meanwhile let out a deep breath and wiped his sword on his crimson cloak before placing it back in its scabbard. "Burn that hand and reload the catapults!" He ordered, and the men around him returned to work.
"You shouldn't have done that, Lor." Lambert said quietly in his ear.
Loren stared at the closing gates with a burning anger inside him. "They shouldn't have rebelled." Was his only response.
Tyland often thought walking into the Throne Room that the seat of power for the Seven Kingdom's was underwhelming. He had often heard people discussing it as if it were some towering beast of thousands upon thousands of blades, but he had grown up with Tywin Lannister as a Father and Tywin had explained it all quickly. There were less than 200 melted together, each one swords of the Lords or heirs that had bent the knee to Aegon Targaryen during his conquest. The symbol mattered more than the truth however, and Tyland decided to count the blades whilst he waited for Tommen to arrive.
He managed to get to 173 when the doors swung open and in strode Tommen, closely followed by Ser Preston of the Kingsguard. "Uncle, you are early." Tommen grinned.
Tyland wasn't, the King was just late, and the Hand of the King noticed that the King's hair was slightly dishevelled and knew exactly what had happened. "Your Grace." He bowed his head. "You wished to see me."
Tommen smiled brightly. "I did. I wanted to talk to you about the duel…"
"We have been over this, Your Grace." Tyland said slowly. "It was necessary to both prove our innocence in the eyes of the Gods and to protect the rest of the family."
"I know that, I'm not looking to ban them." Tommen insisted. "But we should look at the consequences of the latest one."
Tyland nodded. "I have penned a letter to Doran Martell offering our condolences and explaining the events that led to Oberyn's death." He handed Tommen the unsealed letter and allowed the young King time to read it.
"Add that I would like to invite him and Myrcella to the capital." Tommen said. "It would be nice to discuss this in person, and I want to see Cella again."
Tyland knew that Doran would never dare to step foot in King's Landing now that both of his siblings had perished here, but he nodded and agreed to the King's request. "Perhaps a spot on the Small Council? Prince Oberyn was invaluable with deciphering your brother's killer."
Tommen smiled. "Of course, an excellent idea Uncle." He sighed then and stared at the Iron Throne. "Will things calm down now?"
Tyland shook his head amusedly. "You are the King of all Seven Kingdoms Tommen, things will never remain calm. Even the Conciliator had numerous issues that plagued his rule. Like you he dealt with the aftermath of a tyrant King before assassins and wayward children crept into his life."
Gulping, Tommen looked scared. "I don't want assassins."
Tyland reassured his nephew. "Not to worry, you are a popular King, Your Grace. The Smallfolk praise you for giving them food and work, the Lords deem you strong and fair and your alliance with Storm's End, Casterly Rock and Highgarden mean than none will be able to oppose you even if they wanted to. Take this time to relax and enjoy yourself, Your Grace, very soon the Twins will come to heel, and we shall be at peace, hopefully for the foreseeable future, and all you need worry about is putting a baby inside your wife."
Sansa had immediately ran to her chambers in the Tower of the Hand as soon as Tyland had left that morning and locked the door behind her. She knew that Mira was around looking after Artie and while her heart pained for him, she couldn't see her son in this state. Breathing deeply to try and calm herself down she spotted her wardrobe had been opened in the night. Moving over towards it as she felt her eyes stinging from the tears, she opened the doors and found her maiden's cloak. It had a note attached to it with her own handwriting on it, and so Sansa pulled the parchment off the cloak and read the words.
Never forget.
She nodded to herself as she then placed the note down gently and her fingers wrapped around the cloak, pulling it out of the wardrobe and allowing the 17-year-old to look at it properly for the first time in two years. She moved over to her bed to sit down and laid the fabric out over her crossed legs, her fingers tracing over the grey Stark Direwolf. She felt another tear fall down her face as she thought on her sister in Riverrun, going through whatever unknown trauma the Frey's were putting her through. She then thought on Bran and Rickon, her baby brothers, dead by the Ironborn or Lannisters or whoever. She thought on Robb and her Mother, dead at the orders of her husband.
That then brought her to her Father. Tyland had actually been the one to murder him, and every time she looked at the Lannister Lord she saw the knife that he had used. She saw her Father's head up on the traitors walk, bloodstains around his mouth.
Choking on a sob, Sansa scrunched up the cloak and lay down, curled up in a ball desperately holding the sigil of her Father's house… her house, to her breast.
The entire Small Council had gathered once more before Tyland had a chance to sit down in his seat. The Lannister was grateful for the prompt attendance of everyone and as he moved to sit down he placed the letter for Dorne in front of Pycelle. "Send that to the Water Gardens after you leave." He instructed.
"Of course, My Lord Hand." Pycelle bowed his head.
Sitting down, Tyland turned to the room. "We must ensure that the Red Keep is fully prepared for another arrival of Dornish guests. The King has invited Prince Doran here and has offered him a place on the Small Council."
"To take which role?" Ser Kevan asked.
The only one in the room that Tyland would have happily replaced was Mace Tyrell, but the Lannister knew he needed to keep the Tyrell Lord on side if he was to finally get rid of Cersei. "An advisory role I am sure, Dorne haven't had much influence on the policies of the Seven Kingdoms since King Daeron II and it is long past time that we include them in more than just gaining a Martell Queen." Nods of cautious agreement followed that declaration, and Tyland moved on to the next thing on the agenda. "Has Prince Oberyn's paramore left the Capital?"
"She has." Lord Redwyne nodded. "The Prince's body was well prepared and barring any storms they should arrive in Dorne soon."
Tyland nodded, hoping that the body arrived in as much of the single piece as Gregor had left it in. "Then we should move all our efforts into preparing for the Queen Mother's wedding to Ser Loras."
"There is one more thing, before we become entrenched in more wedding talk." Varys piped up from his seat. "I have whispers from the east."
"The Targaryen girl?" Jaime asked.
"Who is half a world away." Ser Kevan reminded them all."
Varys nodded. "And is likely to stay there for some time. Her Dragons are unruly, and she has locked them away, whilst without dragons Meereen has become victim to some brutal murders on her soldiers."
"She has an enemy?" Mace Tyrell asked hopefully.
Varys nodded again. "It seems that way, the insurgents are well organised, and not what you would expect of being simply a local uprising."
Tyland mulled that over for a moment. "Find out who is funding these rebels." He ordered Varys. "If they are open to negotiations, then I myself will offer assistance, be it financial or material. Daenerys Targaryen's death will secure Tommen's reign against all claimants."
"I will do as you ask, Lord Hand." Varys replied.
Tyland nodded happily. "Very well. Now we should move onto the Queen Mother's wedding…" He began, and the rest of the Small Council meeting became a long back and forth over the arrangements for the upcoming nuptials.
The bombardment of the Twins continued as dusk fell on the Riverlands, and as the stars began to shine above Loren retired to his tent alone to have his portion of the rations available. As was becoming increasingly evident in his command however he was only allowed a mere minute of peace before Lambert was announced as wishing to enter.
"Let him in." Loren commanded, and his red-headed friend appeared in the tent flaps.
"Another white banner Lor." Lambert explained. "Ser Ryman and the Maester."
That puzzled Loren. He took an extra-large spoonful of stew and gulped it down quickly before picking up the belt holding Lionheart and following Lambert to the front lines. He nodded greetings to his men on the way, and as he arrived at the line of catapults he saw the disarmed figure of Ser Ryman, as well as a bald, rather round man in dark Maester's robes. As he got closer he noticed the Maester's robes had been stained with raven droppings and Loren visibly turned his nose up, before trying to set his face in a neutral manner.
"Ser Ryman." Loren greeted warmly, the warmth clearly fake. "Have you come to surrender?"
The Maester cleared his throat. "Forgive me, My Lord. But it is Lord Ryman now."
Loren raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"You killed him." Ryman growled.
The Maester placed an arm on Ryman's shoulder. "Now now, My Lord. Lord Walder was an extremely old man, his heart wasn't the healthiest and it simply gave out."
"Gave out because his walls were shaking." Ryman snarled, pointing at Loren. "His death is on your hands."
"And you should take care with your words, or so shall yours be." Lambert insisted.
"Enough!" Loren shouted at them all. "Death is an unfortunate necessity in war and your Grandfather started this one. His death allows you to make a smarter choice, Lord Ryman. You know our terms, you know there is no room for negotiation. Bend the knee to us now and we can move past this little insurrection and bring peace back to the Seven Kingdom's."
Ryman scoffed. "You didn't exactly give us a choice, but I'll bend the knee to the King all the same, not to you, Lannister. I am a Lord Paramount now, no thanks to you."
Loren shrugged. "If you insist My Lord." He nodded. "Ser Damion Jast and Ser Lyle Crakehall will escort you to King's Landing tomorrow to kneel to King Tommen. Once you have left with a small party, we will break up the siege and depart for the Westerlands." He didn't want to give the Frey's any excuse to try and start another fight.
Ryman growled, but he nodded. "Aye, I'll bring my son and heir, Edwyn and half a dozen guards."
Loren could agree to that. "Go and make your preparations then, Lord Ryman. The sooner you do, the sooner this sorry mess can be finished with."
Ryman didn't say another word, instead he grabbed the Maester by the scruff of his neck and dragged the large man back to the Twins. Loren sighed a breath of relief before he turned to Lambert beside him. "Have Damion and my uncle gather two dozen loyal men to travel with them. Half a dozen Jast, half a dozen Crakehall and a dozen of my own."
"At once, My Lord." Lambert bowed formally, walking away to see to his orders.
Loren meanwhile stood out in the night sky for a moment longer, taking a deep breath and smiling at the outcome. He may have been the cause for this war, but he had also seen it come to a positive end for both him and his family, and now he hoped that this could all be left in the past and he could have a bright future with Cerenna and their child.
Things are starting to heat up again… Tyland is returning to Sansa's bed because one heir to the North just isn't secure enough for his liking. Sansa meanwhile is dreading it, and the rush of emotions is starting to get to her.
Tommen's wish to have a happy and peaceful realm is bringing the Martell's into play again. Whether or not that is smart, Tyland doesn't believe that Doran would dream of coming to King's Landing given everything. But we have to remember that he isn't in control of everybody and there are still schemers around the continent…
The Jaime/Cersei scene was a really fun one for me. Cersei is getting desperate to both stop her wedding and save Tommen from her 'evil older brother' but Jaime as usual in this story is having none of it. He just wants to do his job above all else and doesn't want to be brought into the interfamilial politics going on.
My favourite parts of the chapter though were Loren's scenes at the Twins. In order to be taken seriously he may be going over the top but he's angry at the entire situation and Black Walder is the type to quickly rile someone up, so Loren showed his skill at arms while still keeping the envoys alive. He's done his job too, as with the deaths of Walder Frey and Stevron Frey along with the threats of total extinction, an albeit reluctant Ryman bent the knee. Now Loren feels he can relax a little at Casterly Rock, although of course he needs to get there first…
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter is a shorter one, probably the shortest so far, but the next few weeks will have some really good parts to them!
Next time: Olenna Tyrell moves on to a new set of plots, whilst we learn the whereabouts of everybody's favourite murderous dwarf…
Reviews:
Supremus85: Magnificent bastard level is a brilliant phrase!
Mister LaGuardia: I mean there's a difference in terms of what the Old Way entails, but I get what you're meaning.
Black Magic99: I have everything planned out up until the very end and the only things that remain the same from the show are things that the current OC's have no immediate control over (White Walkers/Dany/Euron)
Rolling Mist 13: Cersei was drunk in fairness, but yeah she's becoming desperate…
sniperbro1998: Tyland hasn't made many allies in his own family you're right. Myrcella will be back and will become a major part of the story very soon.
expert93: Thank you! I did try and do it differently to the show and I'm pleased with how the fight turned out, I'm glad you agree!
Hail King Cerion: Walder might have been watching from his castle, but it wasn't obvious to the Lannister forces if he was or not. Jon's arc largely will stay the same as we get towards Season 6 (and we will finally find out what Melisandre has been doing since abandoning Dragonstone…) so I don't think it's a spoiler to say that he'll die and come back to life, but after his resurrection there will be a bit more of a focus on him as obviously Roose Bolton helped with the Wildlings instead of Stannis, so the changes there will need to be explained.
E. Minor: I could spoil the entire to appease your worries but I won't do that. All I will say is that the timeline of Season 6 of the show will have major consequences for House Lannister. Everything so far has been building up to Season 6.
AAALLlIII333: Thank you for that! It is an interesting perspective for sure.