I had some free time this weekend and managed to write this. Hopefully you all enjoy this. Again thanks toPreierfor making this readable.
There were around a hundred men in the field.
Some were noname hedge Knights, a few were of noble birth but so far related to their main family that they didn't matter. Most were young commoners who either wanted to achieve something in life or get revenge on bandits.
Ser Rupert got in front of them with a speaking trumpet in hands.
"Listen here all of you shits." He shouted causing all of the men to quieten down.
"All of you are here because you have volunteered to fight the bastards who have been menacing our lands in recent times. Which means all of you buggers are at my mercy." The Crakehall Knight grinned savagely at the end.
More than one man shivered in the crowd.
Jason didn't blame them. He knew better than anybody how sadistic the old Knight could.
"From now on you do what I tell you to do. If I tell to jump you don't ask why, you ask how high. I don't give a damn who your father or mother is. All you will be under me and I won't tolerate any shit. So, does anyone have any problems?"
No one replied so the giant man asked again.
" I said DOES ANYONE HAS ANY PROBLEMS?"
This he received a loud "NO"
"Now I want you all to begin running around this field till you fall down of exhaustion. All of you. If I see anyone slacking off, you will regret coming out of your mother's womb."
As all of the men began running, Ser Rupert came to stand near him and Ser Aubrey.
"Gods, it seems like I have been giveing these speeches since forever." The old man grumbled.
"And every time you get more vulgar." Ser Aubrey said quietly.
"Well you are more than welcome to give these speeches lad. Though I doubt they will be able to hear you." The Crakehall Knight told the Serrett heir.
"We now have around two thousand men. Ser Tytos wants us to have these men trained first and then slowly increase the number to five thousand." Ser Aubrey listed off, not giving any attention to the insult.
"You know, with the new fleet and creation of this 'Western Guard', one would think Tytos is preparing for War. Though I guess he is just pouncing on the opportunity." Ser Rupert said thoughtfully.
Jason was confused.
"What kind of opportunity?" he asked Ser Rupert.
Ser Rupert looked towards him and began explaining.
"The main reason these bandits are so dangerous is that they are constantly moving. Let me give you an example. They raid the Serrett lands and then quickly move towards Lydden lands once the Serrett men notice them. Now the Serrett men can't go chasing them in Lydden lands unless they visit Deep Den to ask for permission. And by the time they get it, these bandits have already left the area."
"Now you could send Lannister men after them but even the most loyal Lords would get spooked if their liege lord's men are roaming their lands without any apparent reason."
The old man then let his gaze wander towards the men running around in the field.
"While your brother might say this Western Guard is no different than Lyonel Baratheon moving around Stormlands hunting bandit with a small host, it is clear he is building an army. Something he couldn't do if the Reynes were still there."
"With the Reynes gone, the only houses which even come close to the Lannister in power are the Marbrands, Leffords and maybe Crakehalls." Ser Aubrey spoke, surprising both Jason and Ser Rupert.
"The Marbrands will never move against him. Ser Tytos has won the support of Leffords through his squire. As for Crakehalls" here the young Knight looked towards Ser Rupert who thumped his chest and said.
"My nephew would be more than happy to join the guard just to get a chance to bash some heads."
Ser Aubrey just sighed and glanced at the men.
"Are you going to make them run around all day?" He asked.
The Crakehall Knight just laughed and said, "aye."
(SCENE BREAK)
Lady Jeyne Lannister sighed as she looked around her husband's solar.
Both her husband and Good Father had restricted the amount of work she could do.
Apparently neither of them wanted her to have any kind of stress while she was with child.
Usually she would be spending this time with Cerenna but today Lord Gerold had taken her to the beach.
So she decided to amuse herself by sitting in her husband's solar while he did some work.
She was hoping it was a boy this time. Although Tytos had a rather strange reaction when he found out she would be giving birth early next year. He was also particularly insistent that if the child was a boy, they would not name him Tywin.
She chalked it up to another one of her husband's eccentricities.
Over the years she had noticed her husband often behaved strangely. She had asked around Casterly Rock, even her Good Father, but no one knew anything.
But at the end of the day Tytos might be a little strange but he was the father of her children and her husband and she loved him the way he was.
"What are you reading?" she asked Tytos in a curious tone.
Her husband didn't even look at her and replied, "Just a report on something that blacksmiths are working on for me."
She smirked and said, "Another one of your delusional ideas?"
Tytos looked at her and glared heatedly as he said, "My ideas are not delusional."
Indeed most of his ideas were not.
The refurbishment of the Gold, River and Ocean roads along with the construction of a new network of roads all over the Westerlands had seen an increase in Trade.
The Myrish engineers had reconstructed the major roads in the image of the famed dragon roads of Valyria.
While the Reach has always been the home of chivalry, it was the Westerlands which armed that chivalry by always having the best blacksmiths on this side of the Narrow Sea. The new Water mills had ensured that the Westerlands could easily increase the quantity produced, at a reduced price, while maintaining the quality.
And while her own father had nearly burst a vein when Tytos had explained his new complicated method to maintain the records, the Lord of Ashemark had later told her privately that Tytos' method had made things like collecting taxes a lot easier. He had even found a few men who were stealing from him.
But, like she said, 'most' of his ideas were not delusional.
"What about your canal?" Jeyne asked, her smirk widening.
Tytos' face flushed with embarrassment as he looked back at the paper, trying to pretend he didn't hear her.
The first of Tytos' grand plan was a canal. One connecting the Mander to either the Red Fork or Blackwater Rush.
He had been rather boastful about how he would get the Tullys and Tyrells cooperation for the canal. Even when she and Lord Gerold expressed their doubts, he ignored it.
So it had been rather hilarious for her to watch when the Myrish workers told her husband that such a canal was impossible. She still remembered Tytos asking them in desperate voice if they could make a canal in the Westerlands.
Since then Tytos had always made sure to gather all the knowledge before acting on any of his ideas.
Looking at Tytos, Jeyne decided to ask something that she often wondered about the Lannisters.
"Tytos, what would happen if Lannister mines go dry? These mines have been up and running for thousands of years and the Lannister power is built upon them. What if they were to go dry?" she asked.
Tytos looked at her and leaned back. He gave her a smug smile, like he was amused.
"You know, I asked this same question to my father around two years ago. While he said there were still lots of untouched gold veins, he showed me something to alleviate my worries. But I am not sure, should I show it to you?"
Jeyne's eyebrow twitched as Tytos made a mock thinking pose.
She was about to say something when Tytos started touching his desk oddly.
Soon a secret compartment was revealed which held a dagger and a key.
Tytos took the key and said, "Well I might as well show you, you are the Lady of the Rock after all."
With that he motioned her to follow him.
Even after all these years Jeyne could still get shocked when she was confronted with Casterly Rock's dimensions.
The seat of House Lannister was already only second to Harrenhal in terms of sheer visible size. And just like the Reynes did, the Lannisters also converted all their dried mines into halls, Chambers, armories and so on, increasing the size of Castle even further.
While, unlike Harrenhal, Casterly Rock could easily be defended by a reasonably sized garrison, maintaining it was another matter.
There were rooms in the castle that had never been used, Halls that were never roamed, places where even servants didn't go.
It was to one such part of the castle that Tytos took her, after grabbing and litting a torche for each of them on the way.
They were currently in a small room which looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.
The only noticeable thing about the room was a dusty old painting of a scowling blonde man. He was likely one her husband's ancestors.
"What are we doing here?" she asked her husband. Instead of answering he handed her his torch.
He then proceeded to remove the painting from its place and laid it on the side. He then walked to the other side of the room and started touching the wall.
She was about to speak again when the wall which previously held the painting was pushed back to reveal a stairway.
"Follow me." Tytos said as he made his way down the stairway.
Jeyne walked behind him slowly.
At the end of the stairway was a thick, heavy, iron door.
Tytos used the key to open it and Jeyne entered with him. While her husband went to light the torches her attention was taken away by something else.
When she crouched down to see why the floor felt so strange, she realised she was standing on coins. Gold coins.
When enough torches were lit for her to see clearly, she took a sharp breath.
Everywhere her eyes could see was golden. Heaps of golden coins were gathered along with several of precious gems. The shelves on the wall were filled with bricks of gold. More than a dozen golden statues stood just near her.
"What is this?" Jeyne whispered, more to herself than her beloved.
"You really think that the Lannisters never thought about what they were going to do if all their mines went dry? in the thousands of years they have ruled?" came the voice of Tytos.
Her husband was leaning on a giant statue of a lion. The Lion, like all things she could see, was made of gold with emerald as his eyes.
"Many Lannisters have tried to make sure that the inevitable drying of our mines never effect us."
Tytos moved in front of her and spread his arms and continued, "This particular vault was created by King Norwin Lannister, also called Norwin the Niggardly for his pettiness. It was his portrait on the wall. He even refused to pay his daughter's bride price. He hated spending money. So he made this vault, storing all his wealth here."
"How much is there?" Jeyne asked, still shocked over the quantity of gold she could see.
"No idea. Lannisters have been depositing as much gold as they can for the last 4000 years. And the only time that gold has been taken out from those vaults was during the Conquest."
Jeyne raised her eyebrow. "The conquest?" she asked.
"Apparently when Loren Lannister heard that Aegon had indeed landed in Westeros with his dragons, he sent his brother with the entire Lannister fleet and a huge amount of gold to Essos. He was hoping to hire sellswords and find any knowledge on how to deal with dragons." Tytos explained.
"But by the time his brother Lancel had reached Essos, the field of fire had already happened. Now Loren was in trouble. Most of the ports on the way to Lannisport answered to Aegon now. He was afraid that the Targaryens would confiscate all that gold if they found out."
"So what did he do?" Jeyne asked, now immersed in the story.
"First he spun a tale to Aegon about how he had sent the Lannister fleet to attack Dragonstone while the Targaryens were away. While the Conqueror was angry, he did not do much. Next he sent word to his brother to take all that gold to the city that had the least reasons to like Valyrians and whose Bank was famous for its secrecy." Tytos told her.
"Braavos. All that gold was deposited into the Iron Bank wasn't it?" Jeyne asked.
"Yes." Tytos grinned. " At that time Braavosi were also wary of the Targaryens so there were some stipulations."
"Like what?" Jeyne questioned.
"Mainly that said Lannister gold at the Iron Bank can never be used to pay the Iron Throne's debt unless the King holds the Lannister name. There are dozen of others. As of this year the Lannister account at the Iron Bank has nearly 10 million golden dragons."
Jeyne was again shocked. She always knew the Lannisters were rich but was always astounded at how much wealth they hoarded.
Her astonishment didn't end there. She and Tytos decided to explore the vault.
There were gold coins from the time when Lannisters were Kings, depicting Lions. Statues, suits of armor made of gold. There were several pieces of jewellery studded with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds.
The vault seemed endless.
After a while Jeyne's foot slipped and she nearly fell down but Tytos caught her before that.
"Are you okay?" Tytos asked with his arms still around her.
But Jeyne wasn't paying attention to him. Her attention was on a particular place where the rug had shifted due to her movement.
" What is that?" Jeyne asked her husband while pointing towards the wooden latch.
Tytos looked at it and immediately moved to open it.
He took out a sheathed sword. The pommel was made in the image of a golden lion, with Rubies in its eyes.
He took out the blade from its scabbard.
While Jeyne was no expert in swords even she could admit its beauty. There were Red and black ripples through the steel. It seemed long enough to be a bastard sword.
"Valyrian Steel." Tytos murmured in the shock.
"It's not the only thing Valyrian here." Jeyne said, prompting Tytos to look back from where he had previously taken the sword.
Inside were four large scaly eggs. Dragon eggs.