The raven reached King's Landing late into the night.
When the Grand Maester saw the seal on the scroll, he was confused. Why is a Baratheon sending a message to King's Landing? The only true Baratheons were right here in this city, the rest were traitors. The seal bearing the sigil of a crowned stag was broken by weary fingers and the parchment was unrolled. The writing had proven to be erratic, marred with errors, clearly a hastily written thing.
The message it held proved to be just as chaotic.
The Grand Maester read it once, then twice, and on the third read the words finally became real to him. He rushed to call a servant in, ordering them to rouse the Lord Regent and the Lord Hand from their slumbers. News from Bitterbridge was something that those two men needed to hear. Robb Stark may have been defeated and captured by Lord Jason, but there were still two Baratheons out there. Two false kings in the south to deal with.
Or there were two of them.
Lord Gerold and Lord Tyrion did not believe his words at first, but the Grand Maester remained adamant about it. Renly Baratheon is dead! It was written here on this very message. Who had written the message was unknown, as was their reason for sending it to King's Landing and thus the Lannisters, who were King Renly's enemies. The Lord Regent had come over his shock and started asking questions then.
"Who killed King Renly?" Gerold asked.
The small roll of parchment in his hands felt unreal. Renly Baratheon had the power of Highgarden and the Reach behind him due to his marriage to Margaery Tyrell. He had the power of the Stormlands, rallying most of the Stormlords to his cause, stealing them from his elder brother. Gerold and Uncle Tyrion had been formulating plans that focused on what to do if Renly Baratheon attacked them, for it was certainly going to be the youngest brother of the late King Robert.
Yet, that was not to be. Renly Baratheon was dead and his host of one hundred thousand men was scattered. The war had shifted so abruptly that a part of Gerold still believed that this was all some wild dream.
"The message does not say my lord, but it may not matter. Renly Baratheon is gone and so too is the threat from the south." Grand Maester Pycelle said.
"I would not say that too hastily now." Uncle Tyrion said, the man looking tired, his hair still rumpled from his sleep. "With Renly dead, that means Stannis has no competition. He will most likely rally the remaining Stormlords to his side, and with them and the Lords of the Narrow Sea, he will attack King's Landing."
"There's also Highgarden and the Reach." Gerold pointed out as the three of them looked over a map of the Seven Kingdoms in the Maester's tower. "They raised a mighty host and intended to take King's Landing and put a Tyrell queen on the throne. That host is ready for war and though Renly Baratheon may be dead, that doesn't mean they might do something on their own. Renly had no right to crown himself king and yet he did. What's to stop Mace Tyrell from doing the same? He has everything he needs to do so."
"He doesn't have kings' blood however." The Grand Maester pointed out. "The Tyrells were stewards to the Gardeners, nothing more. They were servants, and as such, any claim to kingship they may make will be proven false. There are several houses in the Reach who can trace back to the Gardeners before Aegon's Conquest."
"The Fat Flower doesn't seem to be the person with the balls to do such a thing either." Uncle Tyrion said. "It's commonly known that the man's mother rules over him. Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Thorns, that is the one we have to be wary about. Jason visited Highgarden a year before Jon Arryn's death and met with the Tyrells. He told me that Olenna Tyrell was the one to watch out for, that while she is frail, she has a mind as sharp as Valyrian steel."
Gerold looked over the map and the little pieces of stone that represented the various armies across the Seven Kingdoms. Grandfather Tywin was still stuck in the Riverlands, as Roose Bolton had started to march again from the Twins. The man was blocking Lord Tywin's route to King's Landing, and reports said that Edmure Tully was doing the same, moving his men around to try and take an opportunity to attack the Lannister Host at Harrenhal. It seemed that word of Robb Stark's defeat had not yet reached them, and so they should have been pulling back but they weren't, and that was causing some problems. There were too many Direwolf pieces in-between King's Landing and Harrenhal for Gerold's liking, but that may soon change.
Ser Daven Lannister, a cousin who was now in command of a host comprised of veterans from the Battle of Oxcross, was marching into the Riverlands. Reports had it that they had already passed the Golden Tooth and were now making their way towards Riverrun, threatening the castle. Uncle Jaime was still prisoner, and as far as they knew, he was still alive. Gerold wouldn't put it above the Starks to take revenge for Joffrey's killing of Lord Stark by taking Uncle Jaime's head. But the Starks were an honorable bunch, and he hoped that the reputation of the father was passed on to the son, and from there to whoever was left in Riverrun after that.
Ser Stafford Lannister, who had been injured in the Battle of Oxcross, was said to be riding with a small host to Harrenhal itself to supplement Grandfather Tywin's men. Gerold hadn't met Stafford Lannister yet, but what he heard said that the man wasn't the most competent of military officers. But he had distinguished himself at Oxcross, and he was Grandmother Joanna's brother, so it had to mean something. Whether the man and his reinforcements did anything for the Lord of Casterly Rock was yet to be seen.
The Iron Born had grown bold since the Greyjoy Rebellion had ended in defeat. Gerold looked at the little stone pieces shaped like squids with disgust. It may be war, but to slaughter little boys in their own home? That was truly barbaric and an affront to the gods if he ever saw one. The North was in disarray, with several notable keeps being taken by the Greyjoys. Winterfell, Moat Cailin, Deepwood Motte, and several other smaller keeps had all been taken. Word was coming through Varys' limited spy network in the North that Torrhen's Square was seeing battles and the Stony Shore was being raided, with anything that was unable to be looted burnt down.
It was a whole mess that Gerold didn't want to touch with a three-foot lance, yet if they were to win this war and keep Joffrey as King of the Seven Kingdoms, they would eventually have to deal with the North. But that was for another day, for today was about the death of one stag and the oncoming threat of another.
"Stannis Baratheon won't get the support of the Tyrells." Gerold stated as he took hold of the little stone stag that was on Storm's End. "They nearly starved him to death in Robert's Rebellion, and Stannis is said to be a hard and brittle man, so he won't be a forgiving one either. The Tyrells are out of the fight for now, so that means that Stannis Baratheon will have most of the Stormlords and Lords of the Narrow Sea with him. He also has the royal fleet and can attack the city from Blackwater Bay as well as from the south."
"I don't like it Gerold, we don't have enough men here. The city is simply not ready for a siege, and if Stannis has most of the Stormlords with him, he might just assault the walls itself."
"He'd lose thousands of men."
"But he would breach the gates." Grand Maester Pycelle said. "If this city falls to Stannis Baratheon, then the war may very well turn to his favour. King's Landing is the seat of kings after all, and there can be only one king on the Iron Throne."
"Aye, we can't let that happen." Uncle Tyrion said.
"Lets just hope your wildfire plan works out then." Gerold said with a sigh. "That, or we hold on long enough for Grandfather Tywin to get here, but I don't like those odds."
"It'll have to work, but that doesn't mean it the only route we can take." His uncle said as he sipped his wine, which seeing as none of them were going to go back to sleep any time soon it seemed appropriate. "The Tyrells only crowned Renly to get Margaery Tyrell a crown of her own."
"My lord…what you are suggesting…" Grand Maester Pycelle stroked his beard in contemplation.
"The Tyrells never did get a princess or queen during the Targaryen dynasty." Gerold said as he started to see where his uncle was going.
"Exactly." Uncle Tyrion said with a snap of the fingers. "They want a crown and the legitimacy that goes with it. Not many remember, but Olenna Tyrell was once betrothed to a Targaryen, back when she was simply Olenna Redwyne. Prince Daeron Targaryen, the son of King Aegon the Fifth of His Name, was the man she was betrothed to, but it was broken off when Olenna Redwyne married Luthor Tyrell. Now, I can see why the Queen of Thorns didn't want to marry Prince Daeron, him being the fourth son and all. So, they would want to get royal blood another way, and that way was Renly, but now he's dead. So, there is really only one option we have left."
"Joffrey." Gerold said as he palmed his face.
"Joffrey." Uncle Tyrion said as he raised his cup of wine in faux salute.
"But the king is already betrothed to Lady Sansa Stark." Grand Maester Pycelle said. "You don't mean to break the betrothal in favour of Lady Margaery."
"If the price of gaining the support of the Reach is putting a crown on Margaery Tyrell's head, then I say that it's a worthwhile price to pay. We need men and the Tyrells might be able to reach King's Landing before my father at this point." Uncle Tyrion said.
"But Lady Margaery married a traitor, my lord. She has already been wedded and bedded; it is not something that the king would accept."
"The king has no say in the matter as of right now." Gerold said. "He is still not a man grown, and until he is, I have the final say in all matters concerning him. So, uncle, do you believe that this is a good plan? There are risks in doing something like this. Mayhaps we should speak with Grandfather Tywin about this."
"There are risks aye, but the rewards outweigh them. The Tyrells have the largest number of men and a fleet that almost rivals the royal fleet itself. They also have most of the food that the Seven Kingdoms needs to survive, so not only would this potential alliance secure us a victory in the eventual attack from Stannis Baratheon, but it would also solve the food problem that King's Landing is slowly heading towards. Lady Sansa Stark, for all that she is a nice and kind girl, offers us nothing. Her father was an accused traitor who was beheaded for his crimes and her brother is a traitor and a prisoner as well. The Starks no longer truly hold the North either, so the choice seems rather obvious when comparing the two." Uncle Tyrion said.
Gerold didn't truly know what to do, nor did he like the way that the other two men were looking to him for the final decision. He was the youngest person in the room! Yet, he was also the one they were looking towards for an answer, or an order. This was one of a growing number of times where he regretted taking up the Lord Regency, not that it was being offered, but needs must be in order to keep the city functional and relatively safe.
He didn't even know how they were going to broach this possible alliance to the Tyrells if they agreed on doing this. How would they even get the message to them? This wasn't something that you could simply send by a raven, the information was too sensitive to be left to a birth. He couldn't think of anyone to send that was within King's Landing as they needed every capable man present.
But it seemed that they might have another option, for another raven fluttered into the tower, as they were sitting in the small solar within the Maester's tower. The rookery was just above them and this was a rather loud bird, which caused the others to make noise, sounding out their songs at this early hour.
A short journey up the stairs and into the rookery found the three of them faced with a raven with a little scroll at his leg, a scroll with a lion of Lannister seal on it. A message from Casterly Rock itself. Gerold got to the bird first and took the little scroll of parchment off, breaking the seal and unrolling it. The words were the small, neat handwriting of his lord father, yet the message seemed even solve one problem for them, though it created more questions for him. Gerold turned back to the other men in the room and asked a simple question, for he could not in his life remember who this person was.
"If you two could remind me, who is Ser Damion Lannister?"
"And the one that looks like a falling sword is the constellation for the Sword of the Morning."
Leo squinted into the Myrish lens as he gazed upon the stars. It was a cloudless night, and the moon wasn't lighting up the night sky, so the stars were ever prominent. There were thousands of them in the sky, all of them tiny dots of white on a black field.
The constellation of the Sword of the Morning did indeed look like a falling sword, once you wrapped your head around the concept of drawing imaginary lines between tiny dots so that the shape of a sword came about, so he kind of saw it. The Ice Dragon constellation had been much of the same, drawing lines between tiny glowing dots in the night sky that didn't really look like a dragon, but also kind of did.
"They say that the constellation is where the Dayne's got their title from, and that the falling star that the Greatsword Dawn is made of came from that constellation. They also say that's where the name Starfall came from, because the Daynes followed the falling star."
"'bella, I think you're looking too deeply into this. It's just a pretty collection of stars." Leo said and he heard his sister's harumph off to the side.
Isabella Lannister, the youngest child of Jason Lannister and Alysanne Lefford, did like her stars and histories. Whether the Daynes did truly take the name of their legendary title from a constellation or not matter little to Leo though. To him it was just a happy coincidence that it all lined up so perfectly.
"It's a sword made from a falling star Leo, there's no other like it in all of the world. It's said to be as strong or even stronger than Valyrian steel." Isabella said.
"Aye, and if I ever get my hands on a Valyrian steel blade I'd like to test that theory if I also ever meet the Sword of the Morning." Leo said as he continued to look through the Myrish lens.
"There is no Sword of the Morning, not after Ser Arthur Dayne died." Leo could almost hear the pout in his sister's words.
"Well, you should blame Lord Stark for that one. He did kill the man after all."
"I refuse to believe that. Ser Arthur Dayne was hailed as one of the best knights in the entire Seven Kingdoms. That he was unmatched on the field of battle when he had Dawn in his hands! I don't believe for a second that some Northerners beat him."
"This sounds an awful lot like a crush. Tell me dear sister mine, do you fancy the Sword of the Morning."
"Don't be stupid, I'm just… very displeased that everyone is agreeing that Lord Stark defeated Ser Arthur Dayne in a proper duel."
"Well, everyone who was present for that duel is dead, so I guess we'll never know."
"That's not true, I read the histories, and they say that Lord Howland Reed was also present, and he should still be alive right now."
"In case you haven't noticed, we are at war with the Lords of the North," Leo looked away from the Myrish lens and at his sister. "and Howland Reed is Lord of Greywater Watch, which is part of the North, who we are at war with."
"I know that."
"Then, stop whining about it already. It happened like twenty years ago, what does it matter?"
"It's the principle of its Leo!"
"If you're so concerned about it, why don't you just head down to the dungeons and ask Robb Stark. I'm sure his father told him about this famous duel at least once in his lifetime." Leo suggested.
Robb Stark and the rest of the Northern Lords were sitting in their slightly comfortable cells within Casterly Rock. The old tunnels that had since been mined of their gold had been turned into all sorts of rooms and chambers. But most importantly, they were also turned into prison cells, and they were so deep within Casterly Rock that it was almost impossible for anyone to break them out. They'd probably get lost if they even managed to escape their cells in the first place.
The River lords had been sent to the Golden Tooth for holding, seeing as the Golden Tooth was the second most heavily fortified keep in all of the Westerlands. Their father had explained it as to keep the prisoners separate from each other incase they got any bright ideas, as well as to lessen the burden of transporting so many men to Casterly Rock. They had taken quite a few lords and ladies surprisingly as prisoner after the Battle of Oxcross.
"He still hasn't said a word since he's awoken." Isabella pointed out, pushing a lock of golden blonde hair behind her ear. "Just stares off into the distance with a blank look on his face."
Leo was pretty sure he hadn't punched the Lord of Winterfell that hard in the face during the final moments of the battle. Stark's direwolf had just been killed and the man hadn't any fight left in him, so it was easy to just come up from behind him, grab his shoulder, and then when he turned around to punch him square in the face. His nose had been broken, but that didn't lead to people not talking.
"Well, I did punch him pretty hard." Leo said.
"Are you gloating? That's not a good look on you Leo, you might end up like cousin Lancel."
"If I ever do end up like him, please slip me some Tears of Lys during my next meal."
"Of course, that's what sisters are for after all." Isabella said as she went back to looking through the Myrish lens.
Leo rolled his eyes at that and turned his eyes back to the stars. He could faintly see the Crone's Lantern in the distance, and the little speck of red fading in the distance was the red comet, slowly fading away into nothing. Some said that it was a sign of change, and Leo had heard plenty of different opinions from the men during the march to Oxcross.
The little red speck was nearly gone though, so whatever change it brought must have happened already.
He just wondered what it was.