Petyr

The Eyrie was getting colder, a sure sign that Winter was coming. Soon, it would be too cold to remain in the high, ancient fortress of the Arryn's and the entire Household would have to move to the Gates of the Moon for the winter. He had hoped to have considerably advanced his plans before the move, but it seemed as if the Gods were conspiring against him. In the last week, several ravens had reached him. One from his spy on the Wall, one from a source in the Westerlands and a third came from King's Landing.

The scroll from the Wall really only confirmed what he already knew, that the Wildlings were moving into the Gift and New Gift south of the Wall and that several of the Northern families weren't very happy about it, nor was the Night's Watch. The information was potentially useful should he need to foment additional unrest in the North if and when Ned Stark's bastard crushed Roose Bolton. Based solely on what he knew, the Stark boy outnumbered the Boltons more than three-to-one when all the forces in White Harbor were included. In real terms, he probably held a two-to-one advantage in men that he could actually put into the field. Not impossible odds for a seasoned commander like Roose Bolton, but not good either.

Frowning a little, perhaps he should stir up another crises in the North now. Pulling a blank raven scroll to him from the stack he kept on his desk, Petyr dipped his quill into his inkpot and penned a brief note. Lord Janos Slynt was on the Wall, and not very happy about it. The Imp had done his work well there, Petyr had to admit. His man at the Wall said that Donal Noye was serving as the Acting Lord Commander, but that a vote to confirm a new Lord Commander was to be held soon. Commit the proper amount of gold, gold that his man could access in Mole's Town, and Lord Janos would be the nine-hundredth-and-whatever Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. The man despised Wildlings, and the Starks. The fact that Jon had gone from being a bastard and Man of the Watch to King in the North would not sit well with him. A few mild suggestions, and Lord Slynt would launch an attack on the Wildlings and shatter the peace that Ned's bastard had so far fostered in the North. The boy would be overwhelmed with attacks from all sides and his bannermen would desert him in droves as they saw his inability to cope. He would use the Chaos in the North to sideline them and keep them from getting involved in the South for the next hundred years.

The scroll from the Westerlands on the other hand was helpful, but not very useful. His source in Tywin Lannister's domain was a simple tavern girl. High Lords tended not to notice the girls that served them their food and drink or that warmed their beds. He could fill a book with the information his girls had told him when their customers talked without thinking. In this case, his girl had learned that Lord Lannister was reconstructing two castles that had lain empty and in ruins for nearly forty years. Castamere and Tarbeck Hall were being rebuilt and he had named two new Lords to hold them. The first was someone he knew very well, the second he knew only in association with the first. Tyrion Lannister and Bronn Blackwater had been elevated to the position of Lord and granted Castamere and Tarbeck Hall respectively. While he was tempted to dismiss the information as simply more of the mindless dross that was much of Westerosi politics, if he was being honest with himself, he was forced to admit that it was a minor setback.

He had planned to use Tyrion's resentment against his father, and his father's disdain for Tyrion, to drive a wedge between them. In the long term, he had hoped to turn Tyrion against his family and use him to rally the West to him. At least until he could be conveniently eliminated after his throne was secure. Bronn was nothing more than a sellsword, but he was a damn good one. And the reward Tywin Lannister had just given him was the same reward he had planned to offer to pry him away from Tyrion. He had only himself to blame there. He should have made the offer before leaving King's Landing, but he honestly didn't think Tywin would actually give a sellsword, even a Knighted one, a Lordship. Well, he would just have to hope that the man's sellsword instincts for preservation would make him see the light and turn his cloak when the time came. All in all, the two messages offered more possibilities than setbacks in the grand scheme of things. No, it was the final message he had received that was causing him sleepless nights.

It was a message that had been sent directly from King's Landing to the Eyrie. And it bore the seal of the Hand of the King. Tywin Lannister was ordering him to supply a thousand infantry from the Riverlands and a thousand heavy cavalry from the Vale to join with the infantry force being led north by Ser Jamie. This force of men would be in addition to the supplies of grain, cattle and sheep he was being ordered to send from the Riverlands as well. Supplies, he could send without too much worry. But if he sent an actual armed force into the North to fight the Starks, he could kiss their support goodbye when the time came to move on King's Landing. While the North would never fight alongside Lannisters, they could, and would, sit behind Moat Cailin and watch the rest of the country burn. And there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. Without dragons, no one had ever breached Moat Cailin to attack the North.

But if he refused to send the men requested, he would be signing his own death warrant. His position was already precarious and Tywin Lannister would never let even the slightest sign of rebellion or disobedience stand. He supposed that he could send the men, and order them to turn on the Lannisters as soon as battle was joined. But that would only delay the inevitable. Neither the Riverlands nor the Vale were prepared to face the wrath of Tywin when he learned of that treason. Particularly not when he was backed by the Reach. The Riverlands were nearly bankrupt and broken after Robb's Rebellion and had no stomach for further war on their lands. The Vale was fresh and unblooded, but they didn't trust him. Lord Royce had already led a contingent of Lords seeking to remove him as Lord Protector of the Vale after Lysa's death. Could he trust them to follow his orders? In this case, perhaps. But what would happen after? He only held power here as long as young Robert Arryn lived. Once he was removed from the board, Harrold Hardyng would become Lord of the Vale, and he held no love for him. And that was assuming the other Lords of the Vale didn't immediately turn on him and bring him in chains to Tywin to save their own necks. Not that he could blame them for that, he would do the exact same thing in their position.

At every step, the Game of Thrones was becoming more complex and dangerous. His next moves would need to be exquisitely planned and perfectly executed. If they weren't, his head would end up on the same spike as Ned Stark's had. As he poured over all the information he had acquired looking for a way to massage things to his advantage, he slowly came to one inescapable conclusion. He needed to cut his losses in regard to the North and start putting other pieces into play in it's stead. Pulling a small scroll to him, he began to write:

"My Lord Hand,

As commanded I have given orders for my Lords to muster men for the force being led by Ser Jaime. However, I must caution you that I suspect the loyalty of some of my bannermen. Many in the Riverlands and the Vale believe they have an obligation to the Starks and Tullys and are not eager to fight either, despite their clear treason. I have taken hostages from some of these suspect Lords to ensure their loyalty and am sending these Lords to Ser Jaime so that he may keep them under observation and punish any treason they may wish to commit. I will send a loyal man with this force to warn Ser Jaime as well.

Petyr Baelish

Lord of Harrenhal, Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, Lord Protector of the Vale"

Rolling the scroll and sealing it, he brought it and the scroll that would find its way to the Wall to the rookery personally and watched the Maester put the two scrolls on ravens and send them on their way. Petyr relaxed slightly once the two ravens were away. Baring the ravens getting injured or killed enroute no one save Tywin and his man on the Wall would know the contents of the scroll. It was just too bad that his loyal servant that was being sent to warn poor Ser Jaime would die enroute of a sudden fever and his warning would never make it to him. Was it a risk? Of course it was. But you didn't win a throne by avoiding risks. He assumed Lord Lannister would send his own warning to his son, Tywin was no fool after all, but with a little luck the battle would already be fought and the Westerlands force would be in tatters by the time any warning arrived.

He would send Ser Harrold Hardyng to lead the force from the Vale and when Ser Harrold turned his cloak and led his men against the Lannisters, he would declare those Lords to be traitors to the Iron Throne and strip them of their lands and titles. To turn the remaining Vale Lords against the "traitors", he would have young Lord Robert poisoned and the act would be laid at the feet of Harrold Hardyng, Robert's heir. He would be the perfect scape goat. An heir, unwilling to wait to inherit and deciding that the North offered a better option than King's Landing. It was the perfect set up. And to sink the hook, he would reveal Sansa's true heritage to the Young Lord, thus inducing him to accept the betrothal that Lady Waynwood had already agreed to. Once the betrothal was accepted, the two would be wed quickly and privately to bind the Vale and the North together, thus making Harrold's betrayal all the more believable. He of course would deny all knowledge of their wedding when questioned about it. He would claim that the betrothal between the two was the doing of the late Lysa Arryn and that he had been left unaware of it until after the Vale forces had joined up with Ser Jaime.

While this was a major change in his plans, he felt that he had no choice in the matter. Events had taken the decision out of his hands. If he could at least isolate the North while promising, and delivering, the Riverlands and the Vale a return to stability and prosperity, they would back him when the time came. And in the meantime, he would lull the Lannisters to sleep until they lowered their guard in regards to him. And when he launched his campaign after the Martells brought their Targaryen "Prince" back to Westeros, Tywin would think he was simply coming to the aid of King's Landing and answering his King's summons. By the time they knew differently, it would be too late. With the North sitting behind Moat Cailin, the Westerlands more concerned with the invasion in the South, the Iron Islands doing Gods know what, raping and reaving the rest of the country most likely, the Crownlands wanting mainly to be left alone but reluctantly backing the Iron Throne and the Reach dealing with divided loyalties (they were the last of the Seven Kingdoms to fly the Dragon Banners after all), he would sweep aside all the opposition before him and find himself on the Iron Throne. Let the Westerlands and Dorne kill each other, he would be there to pick up the pieces when they finished.

Here, he paused for moment. What if Ser Harrold survived the battles in the North and returned to rally the Vale against him? That would destroy all his plans before they could even begin. Perhaps he would have to send a man loyal to him with the Vale force after all. But not to warn Ser Jaime. Oh no, he would be needed to eliminate Harrold Hardyng after the battle. But which method of doing so would be best?

As the solution came to him, a sly grin slowly spread across his face. They say poison is a woman's weapon. By poisoning both Robert Arryn and Harrold Hardyng, he could claim that it was Sansa, trying to place herself into power over the Vale. Treason did run in her blood if the Grand Maester was to be believed. That would turn the Vale firmly against the North and finish off the Tully's as a legitimate ruling House as well. At the very least, the Vale would be thrown firmly behind him and he could claim the title of Warden of the East in his own right. While the Riverlands would, however reluctantly, accept him as their Overlord.

Rising and smoothing his clothes so as to maintain his trim and dapper appearance, he left his solar and made his way down to the Great Hall where several of his Lords were gathered, including Ser Harrold. Reaching the Hall, he saw Sansa standing by her cousin, young Robert, caring for him while Harrold appeared to be deep in conversation with Lord Royce.

Speaking to Harold, Petyr said, "Pardon me, My Lords, but Ser Harrold, if I may have a word with you in private. Would you please join me in my Solar?"

Replying to Petyr he said, "In regards to what, My Lord?"

"I've recently received a raven from King's Landing. The contents of the message are, well, quite important to the future of the Vale. Your counsel would be invaluable."

"As you wish, My Lord," he replied. Turning to Yohn Royce he said, "If you will excuse me, Lord Royce?"

Turning towards Sansa, Petyr called, just loudly enough to be heard, "Alayne, will you please bring Lord Arryn to my Solar? The Lord of the Vale should be present when matters concerning the Vale are discussed."

"Of course, Father," Sansa said.

She played the part of Petyr's bastard daughter perfectly. He had trained her well. A pity he would soon have to discard her. It would be painful for him, but if he wanted to sit on the Iron Throne, it was a sacrifice he would have to make, no matter how much it pained him to do it. His feelings for her were a weakness, and weaknesses got men killed when they played the Great Game.