CHAPTER VIII- Into the Lion's Den
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Kings Landing 284 A.L.- Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock & Warden of the West
Tywin Lannister gazed about the city of Kings Landing from his balcony in the Tower of the Hand with a grim visage that looked as if he was carved from the rock he was lord of. He had called for a full meeting of the Small Council to take place in one hour. He had also demanded the attendance of the King and his daughter the Queen. For many years he had been driven with a fierce desire to achieve three things: firstly, himself re-instated and ruling the realm as Hand of the King. He had held that position of ultimate power for many years under the rule of King Aerys. That all came to an end when the madman stole his heir and entered him into the Kingsguard leaving him with naught but that vile little monster as a legal heir. He internally scoffed. As is he would ever allow that abomination to be his successor. The robbing of his heir was the final straw in just how many insults he would take from the Targaryens; the Mad King especially.
The first insult happend many years ago when Aerys was still relatively sane. He had thought to take his beloved wife from him. Many things could and would be said about him, this his knew. But one thing even he himself would admit, was that he had truly loved his wife. At least as much as he was capable of the emotion. Joanna Lannister was the one weakness of the great Tywin, and everybody new it- even him. People said she was the only thing that made him human. They were right. But Aerys had thought to take her from him, even though she was beloved and the best friend of his own sister-wife. Of course she would never allow such a thing to occur, so she retired back to the Rock.
The second main goal of his adult life was to see one of his blood sit the Iron Throne as was only their due as Lannisters. To that end, he would see his daughter Cersei a queen so that it would be his grandson that sat the throne. He had sought to accomplish this by means of giving his daughter to wife for Crown Prince Rhaegar. Cersei was a beautiful girl with all the wealth and the best blood in all of the Seven Kingdoms. That the marriage would happen he had not doubted for a moment, for who else could possibly compare? Then Aerys and Rhaegar had insulted him and his house utterly by not even entertaining the possibility of the match. First with a sickly and plain Dornishwoman, and then they compounded the insult by taking the Northern wolf whore. His indignation at these slights burned and ate away at him like a poisonous cancer. These inbred bastards had single-handedly ruined all the prestige that was rightly his due.
These assaults on his house played on his honour till the boiling rage simmered to cause the third main goal of his life to take a form: revenge. Oh how he lusted and craved it. He vowed he would have it. He saw his chance to achieve all three of his ambitions with the outbreak of Robert Baratheon's rebellion. For nearly a full year, Tywin had recieved many ravens throughout the rebellion for aid. Some from the Baratheon alliance requesting help, and some from the Crown demanding it. He gave no response to any of them. He waited, and he watched. He would bide his time and let them all exhaust each other. It was when he recieved word from his spies that the Silver Prince, the man whom many of Westeros from noble to the small-folk adored was dead, that he finally decided to act. He was dead at the hands of Robert Baratheon himself. The Royalist forces were in disaray and leaderless. It was now that he would get his vengeance upon Aerys and all of House Targaryen.
His men would take Kings Landing as it was ripe for the taking. In return for this and for ridding Robert of all Targaryen threats, Robert would wed Cersei as his queen, he would become his Hand, and Jaime would be released from his Kingsguard vows and re-instated as heir to Casterly Rock. His legacy would be cemented with his grandson on the throne, Jaime as Lord of the Rock, and he would be the power that guided them all. First, he would unleash his monsters Clegane and Lorch onto the Red Keep. This he had done. The gates to the city had been opened by his loyal dog Pycelle. His men were instructed to sack the city. They would forevermore fear what nightmares the lions would unleash upon them if they dared to rebel and forget who owned them. His son had even showed his loyalty to his house by slaying the Mad King himself. Gregor Clegane had taken his pleasure on the Dornish whore after killing her son, then he had ended her miserable life. Amory Lorch had hunted down Princess Rhaenys and made sure she would never rise again. He could only admire their ruthlessness and efficiency. There blood would go a long way in appeasing both Robert and sating his own need for revenge on House Targaryen. He was only dissappointed that the Queen and Prince Viserys had left for Dragonstone before he could get his hands on them.
He found his own son being restrained by his Lannister guards. The foolish boy had tried to save the dragonspawn even after he slew the King. He would make sure the boy paid for causing him such embarrasment. Then that Northern savage Eddard Stark arrived. He despised the boy and his entire family. They were a definite threat. They held far too much land. The Starks ruled a land nearly as large as the rest of the kingdoms combined regardless if it was a barren wasteland. It still held innumerable resources and a large population. Not only that, but the savages were also closely related to the dragons; far more than the small amount of dragonblood Robert had in his veins. The Stark children were all the grandchildren of Jaehaerys II, their mother being his eldest child. Their right to the throne came well before the Baratheons. They would have to die. Especially the daughter. Robert could not be allowed to find Lyanna Stark alive. The young Lord Stark was the picture of fury and righteous indignation upon sighting the bodies of his Targaryen kin. Lord Stark's friendship with Robert Baratheon had also been a threat to Lannister power, however he had been pleased to see that friendship looked to be broken beyond repair with the row the two had gotten in over the Sack and the deaths of Elia and her children. He had finally been given orders to relieve to siege at Storm's End and force the Tyrell's to bend the knee. Lord Stark had also finaly sworn his oath of alliegiance to the King and to House Baratheon. That was good. He knew then that Stark would take care of their remaining enemies for them. He had far too much honour to break his word to his best friend.
It all started to go to the seven hell's almost the second Ned Stark was outside the gates of Kings Landing. The filthy Northern savage betrayed them; along with his entire family. They received ominous news in the capitol. The Dowager Queen had given birth and both mother and child had survived. Apparently the Stark's she-dragon of a mother was still alive from childbirth as well and had sailed to Dragonstone to be with her sister. All hell soon broke loose in the Red Keep when word came to them that Lady Stark also retrieved her daughter from wherever Prince Rhaegar had stashed her. In the Dowager Queen's own words was the tale of the truth of the events after Harrenhall. Apparently the wolf whore went off with Rhaegar willingly, married him in a ceremony with unimpeachable witnesses, and the greatest blow of them all- had given birth to a healthy legitimate Prince that his grandmother had proclaimed King as Jaehaegar I Targaryen.
While Robert Baratheon had ranted and raged that it was all lies they received word that Ned Stark had betrayed them. He had gone over to the Tyrell's and aided in the siege of Storm's End. Stark's betrayal along with some casually veiled threats had finally convinced Robert to wed his daughter Cersei. That was an absolute must if he was going to commit his troops to defeating the Starks and Tyrell's. The wedding however, only brought more ill tidings. Perhaps it had been a sign when there had been no applause on the way to the sept. The behaviour of the crowd on the return trip to the Keep was even darker. The small-folk of Kings Landing grew rowdy and began hurling treasonous ephitats at the royal couple and continued on untill a full-scale riot had barely been avoided with the King and Queen having to hurriedly flee back to the safety of the Red Keep. Ominously, Dragon banners in the name of the baby King kept appearing night after night no matter what the Lannister guardsmen did. Possibly, he had been hasty in thinking the small-folk would be happy to be rid of the entire dynasty because of the Mad King. Tywin had forgotten the peace and relative prosperity the city had enjoyed ever since the end of The Dance. He had also underestimated the peoples loyalty to both Queen Rhaella and the memory of their beloved Silver Prince and hence any son of his. Apparently, even the She-Wolf was somewhat popular because many of the people still remembered her mother as their beautiful young princess who was a shining light in her grandfather King Aegon V's reign.
In the aftermath of the royal wedding they recieved even more shocks. His son Jaime and Ser Barristan Selmy had fled the capitol. That they were making their way to Dragonstone was a foregone conclusion. The utter embarrassment he went through by Jaime's treachery was unthinkable. He had noticed that the boy seemed ill-disposed towards him in the aftermath of the sack. What was more was that he seemed to try to avoid his sister at all costs, which given their previous level of closeness was bewildering to him. He had thought to let the boy sulk for a bit, and then he would come to his senses and start behaving as his heir once more. This base treason to his house would not go unpunished, that he promised himself.
The dissappearence of Jon Arryn was also worrying. In the light of Ned Stark's betrayal, he knew that there was dissent in the ranks of the Vale. He was beloved by the mountain-men of the Vale, but that it would lead to the Lord of the Vale retreating back to the Eyrie with all of his men to assume a position of neutrality was an action he never saw coming. Oh, he had not missed the looks of utter disgust that had been thrown his and Robert's way by both the Vale Lords and sometimes Jon Arryn himself; but he had never thought Arryn would turn his back on his foster-son.
This action was only made more complicated by Hoster Tully withdrawing from the alliance completely and giving over total command of the Riverlands armies to his good-son Ned Stark. Things were beginning to look desparate when word reached him that the Tyrell's had truly aligned with the Dowager Queen. There were rumours of a betrothal between the Stark bastard-child king and Mace Tyrell's daughter. Apparently, Olenna Tyrell had disregarded his warnings delivered by his brother Kevan and had gone to treat with the Targaryens at Dragonstone.
Bad news kept coming in. Stannis Baratheon was Ned Stark's prisoner and on the way to the dungeons of Dragonstone. The reports stated that the garrison had turned on Stannis due to their starvation and after the generous terms Queen Rhaella had sent them. She had somehow taken young Lord Renly and had proclaimed him the new Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Dozens of Stormlords had begun to go over to the Targaryens and sworn fealty to King Jaehaegar and Lord Renly. The lords formerly sworn to Summerhall were leading the charge. Robert had gone almost feral in his rage upon learning this. Their unease only grew when they could no longer get word back from the Swanns, the second most powerful family in the Stormlands. Base treachery appeared to be growing everywhere.
The morale of the Lannister-Baratheon alliance members also dropped greatly when word leaked out that Tywin's own son Jaime had somehow managed to save the Princess Rhaenys, and both he and Ser Barristan Selmy had brought her safely to Dragonstone. Circumstances were truly becoming dire. Their hold on the Crownlands was only maintained by force of Lannister arms. Help of any substance from the Stormlands was now negligable. The North, the Riverlands, and the full might of the Reach were now to be brought down on them. Robert Baratheon's only real ally was the Westerlands of Tywin himself and he knew the Tyrell's could easily block the Gold Road and stop all aid of the Westerlands from reaching them. He had also just gotten reports of troop movements that were more than a little unnerving and word from his sources of happenings in both the Vale and the southern Crownlands. It was these actions and their response to them that he must needs discuss with the Small Council and the King and Queen. He did not look forward to what was to come.
He had made his way to the Small Council chamber and took his seat as he waited for everyone to arrive. This particular Small Council truly was pathetic. They didn't even have a master of ships. He gave an internal scoff, why would they even need one? The only fleet they had was what he had ordered sailed from Lannisport into the Blackwater. Their enemies however, well the less said about how horribly out numbered they were at sea the better. His brother Ser Kevan Lannister was master of Laws. The position had been held by one of the King's Estermont uncles untill he had to leave the capitol to attempt to guarantee his lands continued fealty to the crown. It would not suprise Tywin if they never saw the man again. Pycelle was obviously retained as Grand Maester. Master of coin was a man brought by the former Hand Jon Arryn named Peytr Baelish. While he was a young man of no real standing he did possess an innate ability to find coin when needed. This was especially important as they discovered soon after taking Kings Landing, there was naught a coin to be had in the entire treasury. Even major artifacts and heirlooms of worth were missing. Somehow, Queen Rhaella had absconded with every last piece of gold and treasure upon her departure from the city. As much as it pained him to admit it, he had to give the woman credit. He had never suspected there lay such a cunning mind within the Queen.
The others had arrived. King Robert at the head of the other end of the table. His daughter the Queen next to him. His brothers Ser Kevan and Tygett were flanking him. Peytr Baelish sat across from Varys with Pycelle next to him. They still did not have a Lord Commander of the Kingsguard to replace Jaime, or even a real Kingsguard for that matter. All surviving members of the Kingsguard had fled to the baby king. Apparently even Robert had more tact than to install the Mountain in to the Kingsguard.
The Hand of the King began, "Your Graces, My Lords, thank you all for coming. I have important news that we must needs discuss and gather a response to."
King Robert was obviously in a foul mood, no great suprise there. "What could possibly have happened now?" demanded Robert.
"Your Grace, we have had three major developments. Firstly I've had word from the Vale."
"What? Has Jon fianlly remembered where his loyalty lies? Has he stopped his moping after that traitor Stark?" growled the King.
Tywin replied, "No Your Grace. Officially the Vale of Arryn has declared neutrality, but we already knew this. No, the worrying thing is that he has declared his high lords free to follow their consciences. I have received word that a force led by the Royces and the Wanynwoods of at least some 15,000 men has left for Maidenpool and are intending to move on the northern Crownlands."
"By the gods damn it!" shouted the King. "I am being betrayed by everyone! I won't have it. Do you hear me Lannister! When I get my hand on Stark I'm going to grind him into the dust! Him and those damn dragons are destroying everything we fought for. I want that traitor dead!"
Tywin just gazed at him coldy through his by now customary and entirely expected outbursts. When Robert, thoroughly red-faced had quieted, he continued. "The Stormlords that were once sworn to Summerhall- Cafferen, Fell, and Grandison; have gathered a host from some of the treasonous Stormlords which have sworn fealty to your brother Renly and the Stark Bastard Child King. They have left the Stormlands and entered the southern Crownlands. They have begun to drive out the loyal Baratheon and Lannister forces in the area. The region is now almost entirely under their control."
Everyone around the table looked positively sick at the news. Even Robert was silent for once.
Peytr Baelish spoke up. "What was the third developement you mentioned, My Lord Hand?"
Tywin looked around the room before looking at the King as he began, "Working with Lord Varys I have finally been able to piece together what I believe to be the enemies' troop movements and numbers of some of the various hosts and what their plan of attack may be. New levies have been raised in both the North and the Riverlands. These now put the Northern forces with somewhere between 25,000 to 30,000 men in the field. The Riverlands, which had been severly depleated, have been brought back up to near 20,000 men according to our best estimates, by the reconciliations of Targaryen loyalist lords like Darry and Whent with Hoster Tully. It looks as if these new levies are going to be used to invade the Westerlands directly and cut off our supply lines."
The Lannisters in the room, including the Queen, all looked white as ghosts upon hearing this.
Cersei asked, in a wavering voice, "Father, what will we do? Most of our men are here. If they cut us off, we'll be totally isolated and the West won't be able to defend itself."
Tywin sternly replied, "I am aware of that Your Grace. Simply put, there is nothing we can do. What I have not said, is that there are also at least 60,000 men of the Reach being led by Randyll Tarly heading down the Rose Road and on their way to the Crownlands as we speak. The West will fall eventually. And when it does, in our current position, we are doomed. I have bribed and threatened and ordered killed in any way I can to gain us more allies. We have threatened the 'Rains of Castamere' on houses of all shapes and sizes from the Tyrell's to the Frey's and all we have gotten are houses that are of so little note as to be inconsequential. The Stormlands have all but completely turned against us. The few battles that have occurred recently, our forces have been routed completely because they have either been tremendously outnumbered, or they began deserting or turning their cloaks."
The reality of the situation was finally beginning set in on this room of incompetents.
His loyal brother Kevan looked towards him and asked "Brother, what would you advise we do?"
"There is only one thing we can do. We must deal them as great a blow as possible with the force of our arms, and then we must need remove ourselves from the Crownlands to regroup and carefully plan for our revenge. Simply put, we live to fight another day."
The King stood up then. "You want me to turn tail and run from the dragons and the wolves like a craven? To bow down to these treasonous dogs? Never! Do you hear me Lannister? Never, I say" he slammed his hand down on the table so hard that a crack actually formed.
The Lord of the Rock looked down his nose at the "King" with the coldest eyes anyone had ever seen. His eyes looked like green death, and that the Stranger himself was with them. "If Your Grace wishes to die, if you wish for everything you have fought for, bled for and lost to have been for nothing, then by all means. You are welcome to turn yourself over to the dragons and end this right now. However, if you wish for it all to have meant something, for your family, for your child to live" he said motioning towards his daughters swollen stomach. "Then you will help to lead your people to a place of safety where we can re-arm and bide our time."
The King stared at Tywin for a long moment. So many emotions passing through his eyes it was hard to discern them all. Finally, he gave out a great heaving sigh and slumped in his chair as he muttered "Alright, alright. We'll do it your way."
Quietly, Tywin begins, "I have sent word to all of our mines and to the castellan at Casterly Rock to empty the vaults. All of the accumulated wealth of House Lannister is being moved as we speak. I began to prepare for this probability when we got word of the Tyrell's marching down the Rose Road. If they had managed to cut us off from the Gold Road all hope would have been lost. The treasury should reach us within the next few weeks."
"What then Father?" asked the Queen.
Tywin replied, "Then we fight, and break out. With our funds we shall be able to purchase the largest mercenary armies we can find in the East and await until the time is right. We shall then strike with our full might and take back what is ours. We have some time until this is necessary however; enough time for Your Graces son to be born and anointed as the Prince and Heir to the Seven Kingdoms. We shall go to Braavos and then Pentos or Volantis. Before that though, we will make our enemies bleed. This shall serve two purposes. One, they will remember to fear us. Two, it shall serve as a very large distraction whilst we use this as an opportunity to take our fleet and break out of the Blackwater and cross the Narrow Sea. It shall take time, but we will wait until our enemies are at their weakest. We shall see to it that they are faced with constant strife and that they distrust one another immensely. Then, we will have them right where we want them; with them consumed with fighting one another. Then, that is when we shall have our revenge."