SER DAVOS
He was standing in the room with the painted table, waiting for the lords of the Crownlands and the Narrow sea to arrive. As he glanced outside the window, he could see their ships docked at the stone harbor.
It seemed all the lords of the Crownlands and the Narrow sea had sent their representatives, but their ships were still greatly outnumbered by the northern fleet, which had arrived two weeks ago, and they were already sending dragonglass to White Harbor.
Davos had already received word from Winterfell about how they had taken the castle back from the Boltons, and how King Jon had saved young Rickon with the help of the larger dragons.
Davos hadn't had any doubts that king Jon would take back the ancestral home of the Stark, as he had known about Rhaegal and Viserion for some time now.
The King had been kind enough to include a letter from Devan and Shireen along with his own, something that Davos was immensely grateful for. He had longed to hear from them both and to know how they were doing.
They both seemed so happy in Winterfell, and Shireen was overjoyed that she had a new family that wasn't, well crazy, for the lack of a better word.
The young girl had clearly come to admire and respect lady Sansa or the future queen as Shireen was proud to report. That bit of news had been a little shocking for Davos, but it did make sense for the king to marry his cousin Sansa.
It would not only secure the north for generations to come, but also that marriage would tie the Vale and the Riverlands to him in the bounds of family, making it more likely for the Vale and the Riverlands to declare for Jon, giving him control over more than half the continent.
And as Shireen was Jon´s cousin and had declared for him, it would be likely that the Stormlords would want to side with him, over the Lannisters and the boy calling himself Aegon Targaryen.
The Stormlords had never liked the Lannisters, and with the legitimacy of young Tommen in question they would start looking elsewhere for leadership, and as Shireen was the only trueborn Baratheon left, she was the natural candidate.
They also weren't likely to support this Aegon, as he had not only invaded their lands, he had also taken Storm´s End, and he was now surrounded by Stormlords on all sides and he had his back to the shipbreaker´s bay, which wasn't good for him.
There was a knock on the door, and the lords of the Crownlands and the Narrow sea were shown in.
It seemed that everyone had answered his call, as the room was soon filled with highborn lords and ladies from all over the Crownlands. He could spot the young seven-year-old Monterys Velaryon, the new lord of the Driftmark and his bastard uncle Aurane Waters, who had been rumored to have stolen the royal fleet from under Cersei Lannister´s nose.
The old Ardrian Celtigar who was also known as the red crab had arrived. The last time Davos had seen the man, he had been in the battle of the Blackwater, where the old man had gotten himself captured by the Lannisters and the Tyrells, but it seemed that he had found a way to escape.
The young lady of Stokeworth was here was well, with the young bastard babe in her arms. Davos couldn't help but to feel sorry for the young woman, who was now all alone in the world but for the little babe in her arms. Like many others, Davos had heard how the girl had been raped in the riot of King´s landing, over a hundred times, and that had resulted in the small babe in her arms.
Lord Duram Bar Emmon was here as well, a plum boy of sixteen who had been a faithful supporter of Stannis, but he had been disparaged by Stannis for the crime of being fat and feeble.
There were so many lords and ladies here that Davos had trouble greeting them all with the respect that their status demanded, but he thought that he did reasonably well.
"Milords and ladies, thank you all for coming here on such a short notice." Davos started when the members of the ruling houses of the Crownlands and the Narrow sea had taken their seats. "I asked you all here today to talk about who to support in taking the iron throne."
"Ser Davos, I have never known you to beat around the bush, it is one of your better qualities." Lord Celtigar stated. "Tell us more about this northern Targaryen and his dragons."
Davos had made sure that he had mentioned the four young dragons that his grace had stepped out of the flames with, in the letters that he had sent to the lords. That fact alone would make the lords of Westeros interested in supporting the new Targaryen king as it proved that he had blood of old Valyria in his veins, and the only family left of the dragonriders of old were the Targaryens, it would mean that King Jon was definitely the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, and no one wanted to be fighting against dragons.
So, Davos told them what had happened, he told them how Stannis had died trying to get back Winterfell, how Jon had been betrayed by his sworn brothers and put on his funeral pyre, only to step back out of the pyre with four young dragons, how he had shown Davos, lady Sansa, Ser Brienne and Tormund, the leader of the Freefolk, the bigger dragons that had left Daenerys to join Jon.
Davos told them who that had made them question the King´s parentage, how they had traveled all over the north to gather allies and how they had found Shireen Baratheon and Davos´s son, then how they had found out the truth about how Rhaegar and Lyanna had run away with together and had gotten married.
When he finished telling them how lord Howland Reed had revealed the crown of Aegon the conqueror and used it to crown King Jon, all the lords and ladies were silent, with their mouth open in shock.
He had pondered for a while about telling them about all the impossible things that the king had achieved, like dying and coming back with four dragons, but not only had they seen with their own eyes many of the things that the Red woman had done, but also that many of the lords had their spies and most likely they had been reporting strange things happening in the north for a few weeks.
They had most likely also heard of Beric Dondarrion, who had been killed numerous times and had been brought back by the red priest Thoros of Myr and how Daenerys Targaryen had hatched her dragon eggs in Essos.
But there was one thing Davos decided to leave out of the tale, and that was the army of the dead. While everything he had told them was the truth, it was hard to believe and maybe it was best not to overwhelm them with the dead marching on the wall, coming to kill them all.
"You saw this with your own eyes?" Asked the old lord Celtigar, as the man stared at Davos with his old shrewd eyes. As the former lord of the Driftmark was now dead, it seemed that the lords of the Crownlands were looking to lord Celtigar for leadership, which was good for Davos.
Lord Ardrian Celtigar was a sour old man, who liked gathering as much wealth as he possibly could. He was also a man who employed spies and he must have heard the rumors of dragons in the north. Lord Celtigar was not the kind of man to bet against the trueborn son of Rhaegar when he had six dragons to his name.
Davos nodded to confirm that he had indeed seen it all with his own eyes.
"And here I thought that my spies were losing their minds," Lord Celtigar looked over the gathered lords with a serious expression. "I have been hearing from my spies in White Harbor how the northern lords crowned Ned Stark´s bastard as the new Targaryen king, and how he had four dragons and the crown of Aegon the conqueror and the sword of Visenya Targaryen."
Davos hadn't mentioned the sword of Visenya Targaryen.
"That is what my people have been saying." Lord Renfred Rykker the lord of Duskendale spoke as he stroked his silver beard. The lord of Duskendale had clearly inherited the silver hair of his mother, that had been the late lord Velaryon´s cousin.
Davos had head that lord Rykker had been in Maidenpool for the last couple of weeks, so it didn't surprise him that lord Rykker had heard a lot about the king, as lord Manderly did a lot of business with the merchants there.
"What they are saying is true, king Jon has now taken back Winterfell from the Boltons and he will soon be marching on the Twins to bring house Frey to justice for what they did to his cousin, King Robb." Davos told them, and he could see that the Red crab of house Celtigar was weighing the pros and cons of supporting the king.
Everyone turned to Aurane Water´s, lord Velaryon´s uncle as he spoke. "That is all well and good, but what about Aegon and Daenerys Targaryen?" He folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned back into his chair. "I cannot imagine that they will be happy to know that we are supporting the son of Lyanna Stark, and not them."
Lord Rykker snorted. "Daenerys Targaryen is Rhaegar´s sister, and a sister cannot inherit before a son, even if she has dragons, or if Ser Davos is to believe, one dragon, since the other two went to Jon Targaryen." The lord of Duskendale stared the bastard of the Driftmark down as he spoke. "And we have no idea if this Aegon character really is the son of Rhaegar, for all we know, he is just some Lyseni peasant who Jon Connington picked up and fooled himself into thinking that he is Rhaegar´s son."
Davos had to hold in a snort at that, it seemed that no one had forgotten the obsessive love Jon Connington had for Rhaegar.
Davos watched as old lord Celtigar hummed before he spoke. "I agree with lord Rykker, but what is this Jon Targaryen like? Is he a good and just ruler, or just more of the same?" lord Celtigar give him a stare that seemed to penetrate Davos´s soul.
"He is a good man, and I am sure that he will be a great king." Was the only thing Davos said, but he knew he didn't need to say anything else, king Jon would have to be something else indeed to get the northern lords on his side with the last name Targaryen, even if they now knew that Rhaegar hadn't kidnapped Lyanna Stark, and lord Celtigar knew it.
Lord Celtigar studied Davos for a moment while the other lord watched on and held their breath. "Then it is settled, tell King Jon that he can count on house Celtigar to support him."
Davos could feel the relief flood his veins, he had gotten Ardrian Celtigar, and he could see on the faces of the gathered lords and ladies of the Crownlands that they would follow his lead as Davos had suspected.
JON CONNINGTON
The marriage of Rhaegar and Elia Martell had been arranged by King Aerys to secure the Dornish alliance and to spit in the eye of Tywin Lannister. Tywin had always been trying to make his harlot of a daughter a queen, and while Jon thought that Elia wasn't good enough for Rhaegar and never would be, she was a lot better than Cersei Lannister.
Elia was a weak woman, but she had always been kind and gentle, whereas Cersei was the Stranger incarnate. That mad woman had burnt the Great sept of Baelor to the ground in wildfire to escape her trial by the high sparrow just a three weeks ago.
But as luck would have it the Tyrell´s had escaped the capitol before they could have been murdered by the Lannister woman. Mace Tyrell had sent a messenger to the one true king with the proposal of house Tyrell declaring for Aegon if he would marry his daughter, Margaery Tyrell.
Aegon had been wroth when he had heard of the man´s proposal, he had been so angry that lord Mace had dared to sell his loyalty and armies so expensively. But they needed the Tyrell armies to conquer Westeros.
The golden company had ten thousand men, including five hundred mounted knights and elephants, but regrettably they hadn't been able to take the elephants with them across the sea, as they didn't fare well on long ship voyages.
But that wasn't enough to hold the seven kingdoms, when Aegon´s own brother was making his claim on the throne. Rhaegar´s second born son had four young dragons, the sword of Visenya Targaryen and the crown of Aegon the conqueror in his possession. He also had the love and loyalty of the lords of the north if Varys was to be believed.
He also had proof that Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark had married, making the boy who called himself Jon Targaryen, a trueborn son.
While they didn't have any proof of who Aegon was, other than their word and his coloring. And right now, the only thing that Aegon had going in his defense that he was the son of Rhaegar, was the Targaryen coloring.
According to the spider, Jon Targaryen had the coloring of the Starks, which had made Ned Stark so successful in hiding the boy in plain sight.
But Jon didn't bare his namesake any ill will. No, the opposite was actually the truth. This northern Targaryen was still the son of Rhaegar, and Jon´s namesake. Every time he thought that Rhaegar had named his son after him, it made his heart swell with happiness. Rhaegar had clearly left instructions with the Stark girl to name their offspring after Rhaegar´s best and most trusted friend.
Jon wondered what his namesake was like, would he be like Rhaegar or the Stark girl? Jon hoped that he was like Rhaegar. The silver prince was the best man Jon had ever known and he would have made a great king, if the usurper hadn't murdered him at the trident.
But Jon had a feeling that his namesake was just like his mother, taking things that didn't belong to her for her own selfish reasons. The Iron throne belonged to Aegon by rights, he was the oldest son of Rhaegar and therefore his heir, not this northern Targaryen.
Aegon had been raised all his life to be a king, while Jon´s namesake had been raised as a bastard, who knew nothing of ruling the seven kingdoms.
Jon just hoped that when they met, his namesake would have the decency to bend the knee, and then maybe one day he could serve Aegon in some capacity, hells maybe Aegon would give his brother some small keep to live in for the rest of his days.
That would be a step up from living as a bastard from the north.
Then there was the problem with his dragons. Jon´s namesake would of course have to give them up, Aegon couldn't let his wayward brother have dragons. The dragons would be happier with Aegon anyway.
Jon was brought out of his thoughts by Aegon arriving in the war room of the Baratheons of Storm´s end.
Aegon was still in a foul mood after his wedding the day before. It had taken Jon everything he had to convince the boy to marry the Tyrell girl. Aegon had wanted to marry his aunt Daenerys Targaryen, as she was rumored to be the most beautiful woman alive and she had three dragons.
If Daenerys looked anything like her mother and brother, then Jon could believe it. But she was in Meereen and it wasn't looking like she was going to move from the city any time soon, as she seemed to have taken up rule there. There had also been rumors going around Essos when they left that she couldn't control the dragons she had hatched, and she had locked two of them under the great pyramid.
If the dragons couldn't be controlled, they would be more of a liability than assets.
Aegon sat beside him and slumped in his chair. His silvery hair was disheveled and his purple eyes glared daggers at his commanders.
Jon glanced at Mace Tyrell and his son. While Mace was looking happy as a clam, his youngest son, Ser Loras was still staring at a spot on the table. The hand of the true king had heard of the treatment he had suffered at the hands of the faith militant, it seemed that newly resurrected order had done a lasting damage on the young man.
"Any word from the Stormlords?" Rhaegar´s son asked with his head held high, and Jon couldn't help but to look for similarities between Aegon and Rhaegar. But other than the silver hair and purple eyes of old Valyria, he couldn't seem to spot any. In fact, Jon couldn't see any similarities between father and son, aside from the hair and eyes, not even in their characters.
Aegon didn't enjoy his studies like Rhaegar, nor did he have Rhaegar´s skill with the sword. Aegon was passively good at the harp but he was nowhere near as good as Rhaegar had been, but perhaps comparing Aegon to Rhaegar was unfair.
The silver prince had been effortlessly good at everything he did, and while Aegon was his son, he was also Elia´s son, and Jon had never been impressed with her or anything she did. It was her fault that Aegon didn't like his studies or was as good with the sword as Rhaegar had been.
"No, your grace." Ser Harry Strickland spoke up with a frown. "All we know is that they are holed up in their castles and gathering armies around them." The muttering started up almost immediately as he finished speaking.
All the commanders of the golden company were nervous. They had sailed to Westeros thinking that they had to take the Iron Throne from the Lannister woman and an eight-year old boy. But now they were hearing of a Targaryen to the north who had dragons and who could prove that he was the trueborn son of Rhaegar, which was something that Aegon couldn't do.
They hadn't expected to go to war against dragons, but his namesake's dragons were still small and couldn't be ridden for years yet nor used in battle.
He could spy Aegon suppress an irritated growl at the news, Jon understood, as they were surrounded by the Stormlords with their backs against the sea. If the Stormlords decided to unite against them, it wouldn't be that hard to push them into the sea or starve them out, as lord Tyrell had almost done to Stannis Baratheon in the rebellion.
"What about the lords of the Crownlands? Have you lot heard anything about them?" Aegon asked and gripped the arm rest of his chair so hard that his knuckles turned white.
That made the lord of Highgarden and the warden of the south almost start dancing in his seat. "Oh, yes your grace, just before we escaped the capitol, the lords of the crownlands all left King´s Landing." Then he looked a little confused. "But I have to admit, I expected to find them here."
This news made all the commanders pale rapidly. If the lords of the Crownlands had left the capitol before lord Tyrell, they would have already been here before him if they had intended to declare for Aegon.
Varys had made sure that the news of Aegon´s landing where known to those that had been loyal to the Targaryen´s in the rebellion, so that they could pick up their swords for him when he arrived.
But no one had arrived aside from the Tyrells, and they had only arrived when the Lannister harlot had tried to murder them. And now that he thought about it, where on earth was Varys? he hadn't been seen in two weeks.
"What about the pretender?" Aegon demanded, looking angrier than Jon had ever seen him. The rightful king refused to call Jon Targaryen his brother, he was sure that his father would never have married the Stark girl, and that this northern dragon was just a bastard trying to rise above his station.
No one answered the king, and the room was completely silent as everyone held their breath for any news about Jon Targaryen, while Mace Tyrell just looked confused.
Aegon looked over the faces of the gathered men in the room. "Where is Varys?" Everyone had just assumed that Varys had been skulking around, trying his best to find information to help Aegon to the throne, but after all this time it was looking more and more likely that they wouldn't be seeing the spider any time soon.
"Varys hasn't been seen in the castle for the past two weeks, your grace." Harry Strickland answered in a grave tone.
"Wait, what pretender?" Lord Tyrell seemed very confused about who they could be talking about, and it seemed like it was time to tell the man about Aegon´s brother and his dragons, as it was too late for the man to back out of their alliance now, as his daughter had been wedded and bedded to Aegon.
JAIME
He walked through the halls of Riverrun, intent on barging in on his uncle Emmon, who was now the lord of Riverrun and demand an explanation for his stupidity.
Jaime couldn't believe what that worm had done, of all the idiotic things to do, this one took the cake.
And the fact that aunt Genna had not send riders out immediately after uncle´s Emmons men was preposterous. Jaime doubted that she had known until it was too late, otherwise she would have stopped her idiotic husband.
Genna wasn't the type to suffer fools, and that this had happened right under her nose was unbelievable. Which made this so surprising to Jaime that Emmon had dared to do this when he knew full well that Genna wouldn't approve.
The weasel lived in fear of Tywin Lannister, so now that he was dead, maybe the man had decided to grow a backbone. But Jaime knew that that backbone would soon be broken, if not by his aunt Genna´s hand, then by Jaime´s.
He could feel the anger boil under his skin, as he stormed through the halls, effectively scaring the life out of some servants, that were working on taking down any and all artifacts that belonged to the Tullys. All banners with the sigil of house Tully were taken into the yard and burnt and the portraits of the former lords of house Tully went with them.
Jaime couldn't help but feel a sting at seeing this happening. It reminded him too much of the cleansing that Robert Baratheon had done when he took the iron throne.
Everything that belonged to the Targaryen´s had been either burned, only the dragon skulls that had once decorated the throne room had escaped the purge, but they had been stored in the damp cellar, beneath the Red keep.
Jaime remembered when Robert would take some whore, he had taken a liking to, to see the skulls.
Jaime could still feel the guilt of having failed Rhaegar and his children, even after all this time. Their faces still haunted him at night, asking him why he had let them die.
He shook his head; he had a weasel to shout at. Jaime entered the solar of the lord of Riverrun without as much as by your leave.
As he entered the room, he was struck silent by the scene in front of him. His aunt Genna was standing over her husband as he sat by the desk, cowering.
Genna Lannister´s face was red in her anger at the man, and as she shouted at Emmon Frey, she had grabbed his ear, like she was attempting to rip it off.
Jaime would have found it funny, if he wasn't so angry at the man. "What is going on?" He asked his aunt as she dangled her weak chinned husband by the ear.
His aunt stopped her yelling and looked at him. "My worthless husband has finally out done himself. I have never in my life seen such a fool of a man like the man that my father forced me to marry."
She finally let go of the man´s ear, and placed her hands on her hips, and the anger was still clear on her broad smooth face.
"So, you have heard." Jaime stated rather than asked. It was good to know that his aunt Genna hadn't taken leave of her senses as well.
Jaime turned to face the cowering man by the desk. "What on earth were you thinking?" He asked Emmon Frey sharply.
"Thinking?" Genna piped up. "He wasn't thinking, he never does, he just does as father dearest askes of him."
"Hey now-." Emmon tried to stand up for himself, but Genna wasn't having it.
"Do not hey now, me. Emmon Frey. I have had enough of your foolishness, if Tywin had been alive, he would have strung you up by your feet in the dungeons and left you there until spring came."
At the very mention of the late lord of Casterly Rock, Emmon Frey seemed to turn white in the face. It seemed that Tywin Lannister could frighten him even from the grave.
Jaime crossed his arms as he stared at his aunt´s husband. "What on earth possessed you to do something so stupid?" He asked again, and he could feel him start to get angry again.
As he stared down the man, he could see that Emmon Frey was starting to sweat. "Father sent me a letter, ordering me to do it. I had to listen; he is my father." His watery eyes were begging Jaime to understand his plight, but Jaime would not be defending Emmon and his actions.
No, instead Jaime saw red. "Your father has enough hostages, Emmon. He didn't need Edmure Tully in the Twins." Jaime uncrossed his arms, placing his hands on his hips. "We needed him here, you needed him here. When his uncle, the Blackfish finds out that we don't have him, he will most likely try to capture the castle again."
Emmon scoffed at that. "Oh, the Blackfish is just an old man, and he ran away like a coward instead of fighting us." Jaime closed his eyes in frustration at the man.
"Did it ever occur to you that it was a strategic retreat?" Emmon blinked owlishly at Jaime´s question.
"Piff, he just ran away like the coward he is, and now he is probably just hiding with some bandits somewhere, licking his wounds." Emmon crossed his arms and pouted like a petulant child.
"Ser Brynden Tully? Hiding like a coward?" Genna cried out in disbelieve. "Are you mad? He is probably with the Stark girl and her Targaryen cousin right now, getting them to help him take back the Riverlands."
Wait? What? The Stark girl and her Targaryen cousin? What on earth was his aunt talking about?
"What are you talking about aunt Genna?" Jaime asked her with a frown. He had heard of an Aegon Targaryen in the Stormlands, but he didn't believe it for a second.
Jaime had been in there when his father had presented Robert Baratheon with the bodies of Elia and her children. He could still remember the tiny body of little Aegon, just lying there, lifeless, with his little head crushed by the mountain.
And little Rhaenys, who had been such a happy child who liked to play with her tomcat that she called Balerion, had been stabbed half a hundred times.
Genna looked at Jaime with an apologetic look. "I just got the news before I came here. But apparently Ned Stark´s bastard was never a bastard at all, but the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. The northern lords crowned him in White Harbor and now he is going to Winterfell with his cousin Sansa Stark to reclaim the castle from the Boltons, if he hasn't taken it already."
Jaime just stared at his aunt for some time. Rhaegar had married Lyanna and they had a son together?
Jaime remembered the bastard of Winterfell vaguely, he had been a serious looking sixteen-year-old, who was going to the wall. The king´s guard member had wanted to see the one stain of Eddard Stark´s honor with his own eyes.
Of all of Ned Stark´s children, Jon Snow had been the only one, beside the little girl, who had the Stark look. Jaime had found him at the blacksmith, and the boy had been waiting for a sword.
Jaime had of course tried his best to get a rise out of the boy, but he had just stared at Jaime in quiet fascination, like Jaime was an experiment and Jon Snow was a maester trying to figure out how Jaime worked.
Jaime didn't remember the young man´s face clearly, the boy had just been a Stark bastard after all. But Jaime remembered his eyes, they were the color of valyrian steel, and they dug through him like daggers.
But the boy hadn't been a bastard, now had he? Ned Stark had hidden him away to shield him from his best friend´s fury.
Jaime collapsed into a chair by the desk, then he just started laughing at the absurdity of it all, Ned Stark had held the dagger to his friend´s back all these years, and no one knew.
Genna and Emmon just looked at him like he had lost his mind, maybe he had.
Rhaegar´s son had been declared king by the lords of the north. Yes, he definitely just lost his mind.
"You don't think that he will come here?" Emmon asked in his high and wispy voice. Genna just sent him a fowl look.
"Of course, he will, our families just murdered his cousin, who he believed to be his brother, at a wedding. He is honor bound to come and avenge him." Emmon had turned chalk white at his wife´s words. "And you Emmon, just like the idiot you are just send our only bargaining chip away to your father."
Silence filled the solar for a moment before Genna continued. "That is not all." Jaime looked at his aunt, who had been like a mother to him after his died in the birthing bed. "He also has four dragons, if the stories are to be believed."
"The dragons are all dead! The dragons are all dead!" Emmon chanted like a small child demanding a candy.
But Jaime just looked at his aunt in wonder. "Are you sure?" He asked her, a part of him hoped it was true, that meant that at least one of Rhaegar´s children had lived to see adulthood, even if he was soon coming to kill them all.
"Yes, I believe so, my contact says that they are now the size of large hounds." Jaime slumped in his chair, so the man he had thought was Jon Snow was actually a Targaryen king in disguise.
Emmon seemed a little encouraged with hearing about the size of the dragons. "But the north cannot win against the rest of the seven kingdoms alone, we can invade the north and kill this Targaryen and his small dragons."
Jaime and Genna both sent him annoyed looks. But it was Jaime who spoke. "You want to invade the north, in winter? That would be suicide."
Genna nodded in agreement. "Yes, it was the snows and the cold that broke Stannis more than the Boltons ever did. Our armies don't know how to fight in the snow and ice, and we would likely lose half of our men trying to cross the neck."
Emmon just stared at his wife, and his watery eyes held fear as he tried to process her words.
But Genna was not done talking. "There is also news from the capitol." She sat down in the chair beside Jaime and sighed. "It seems that Cersei had finally out done herself."
Those words made Jaime look at his aunt in surprise. What had his twin done to make their aunt look so tired?
"It seems that she…" Genna trailed off, she clearly had trouble finding the words. "She burned the great sept in wildfire."
The silence following her words was deafening.