Tywin Lannister P.O.V.
A waste of time.
That was what this whole expedition was, a colossal waste of time and money for house Lannister.
Sure, he would be the very first to say that they had to crush the Ironborn completely and utterly after their attack on Lannisport, but Robert let them live. That was infuriating, he should have just let the whole place be razed to the ground and redistributed the islands amongst other lords and such.
The punishment given was still somewhat decent, he admitted as much, seeing as the Greyjoy line was basically over and most of the houses there were greatly weakened with their fortune mostly taken away and the Thralls freed… but it was still not enough for his taste.
He could not show the power of house Lannister in this war, instead it was the Baratheons who got the lion's share of the glory and prestige. Stannis defeated the Iron Fleet, Robert personally executed Balon Greyjoy while his two less insane brothers Aeron and Victarion managed to be sent to the wall instead of execution thanks to Eddard Stark's intervention.
This all could still have been remedied if that had been it. He could just have thrown an extravagant tourney or something in that regard to showcase his family's power and it would solve everything as nicely as possible.
Sure, it would cost some more money and House Lannister had started mining less gold than before in the recent 20 years, but that was a minor setback at best. The miners just needed to find a new gold vein, nothing that difficult.
And yet, despite all his thoughts and plans, the worst happened.
A new player appeared out of nowhere. Someone with a fully grown dragon to ride, and that would inevitably change the game.
Why was it in the Iron Islands at a time like this?
How had no one found it before?
Who was the rider?
What were their intentions?
He knows none of the answers, and regardless of what Robert may think, Tywin won't be acting like a fool about it. He won't risk his men on a useless chase to fight a dragon rider when they do not even know where he may be, or even have any way to deal with the beast before or after killing the rider.
Tywin scowled as he remembered how much Aerys rambled about how smart dragons were, if there is even a grain of salt of truth on that then the beast would come to get revenge on whoever kills its partner. Better leave that role for fools like Robert or his personal dog Lord Stark.
His indication of Cape Kraken was just his own way to deal with the situation. First, this would inevitably weaken the Starks while making the Baratheon king need to borrow even more money from him to sustain this huge army, both good results for house Lannister. Second, it was close enough to the Westerlands to where he could quickly obtain information from his spies with ease and without much delay and the most important reason, there would be no point for a dragon rider to come to this place.
Cape Kraken was a location with few natural resources, no castle worthy of a dragon rider attacking or conquering anywhere around, not close to really anything worth their time, and too close to the coalition army led by Robert who the dragon-rider MUST have seen while breaking through Pykes tower.
There would be just no reason for the Dragon Rider to decide to relocate himself there, which only made things even more perfect. Who knows, if he could get to the rider first then he could meet him and perhaps obtain his allegiance, or at least find out just who he was and his intentions.
The most important thing though was making sure that the Rider does not enter into an alliance with the other big players that Tywin had to be wary off like that old shrew from the Reach or that crippled snake in Dorne. He would worry about the old falcon too in other situations, but he was so high up in Robert's fat ass that he wouldn't do anything anyway.
KNOCK
KNOCK
"Who is it? I already said I do not desire to be disturbed." Tywin said as he glared at the door. "I have plans to make and do not desire to be disturbed because of foolish partying or something equally idiotic."
The door opened and one of his greatest disappointments walked in.
"Well, I just thought you would like to talk a bit, father." Jaime, the man who should have been his heir and instead became just a lowly guard for an unworthy king, said.
Tywin nearly furrowed his brows in disappointment at him. He had so much going for him, and he threw it all away just like that. He still couldn't even begin to comprehend what this foolish boy had in his head, why would he do something like that?
Now he needed to spend who knows how many hours trying to push for a way to remove him from the Kingsguard so Jaime could retake his rightful position since he refused to even consider leaving the lordship of Casterly Rock to that abomination who killed his wife.
Sitting on a comfortable couch that he had prepared for his quarters on his personal ship (thankfully it was not burned by the damn Ironborn) Jaime said.
"So, is it just me or is this whole mission to hunt a dragon pretty stupid?" Jaime said and Tywin raised a brow at him.
"I did not expect you to realize that."
"Come now, I am not an idiot." Jaime said with a shrug. "I have heard enough about dragons from Tyrion to know that hunting one is not something easily done. Even if the whole army fights together, where would we even find it? It can just fly away if it sees us, and even if it was blind and deaf it would notice an army this size approaching from miles away and be able to escape." Jaime said, proving once more that he had a decent head on his shoulders when it came to war.
Shame he allowed his fool of a sister to influence him far too much in other matters.
"True enough. This is a waste of time, but even those can have their uses." Tywin said easily enough.
Jaime looked doubtful as he continued.
"I cannot understand, but if the fat king wants to do this then-"
"MONSTER ATTACK!" A shout could be heard from the outside as the ship shook.
Tywin did not hesitate, coming out of the room with the guards following him as he put his sword on his belt and moved to the deck. Jaime was quickly following and as they got onto the deck, they saw it.
It looked like a sea snake from the stories, but it had far too many spikes that were far too big. The whole thing looked grotesque and, as it tried to jump on Tywin he barely managed to avoid it as one of his guards was hit instead. Jaime, meanwhile, moved in and with one movement he lopped its head off then and there.
They all, however, had no time to calm down as more and more monsters similar to the last one started appearing. Most looked like fish with legs or larger octopuses, but even if they looked ridiculous it was still very hard to kill them as Tywin watched several Lannister Soldiers swords just glide off from the slimy hides. What was going on here?
3° Person P.O.V.
Stannis Baratheon, the Lord of Dragon Stone, younger brother to the king, and Master of Ships of the Seven kingdoms was grinding his teeth in frustration over what just happened.
The Royal Fleet, after the war and all the fights that had happened in the previous weeks already had suffered greatly. Their numbers were only 60% of what they were before the war had started, which was already not a good sign.
He was still more or less accepting of the situation since they had won the war and much of the spoils would be used to rebuild the Royal Fleet as Stannis had gotten confirmed by Robert and Jon Arryn.
It would not be cheap but Stannis assumed that the Greyjoys had quite a bit of looted gold so he was not worried about that. What bothered him was the current endeavor his royal brother was on.
Stannis, like many others, could only see this chase after the dragon rider as a bad thing. Doing it like this, completely unprepared, was idiotic at best in Stannis' eyes but no one could defy the king when he decided on something.
Still, Stannis' fury was nearly boiling over as he saw in the distance another ship sinking because of the attack of these gods forsaken monsters. The attack started almost two hours ago and the whole fleet had been moving as fast as possible toward the nearest land.
There was no other choice, the monsters started appearing from the moment they entered this sea area and if they did not push forward then they would need to turn the whole fleet back in an effort to try and escape back to the Iron Islands, which would take even more time given that they were neared to Cape Kraken. It also would leave them far more defenseless to do so since they could not tell just what was going on or even if they would still be able to leave the Islands at that point.
As such, all they could do was tighten the formation of ships and push forward as fast as possible. Regardless of losses, they needed to get to the shore as fast as they possibly could.
Stanis felt his teeth almost breaking as, in the distance, another ship was overrun. Looking at the flag he winced. That one should have been the ship where Jason Mallister was on.
The lord of house Mallister likely just died, much like many other lords died in this incomprehensible disaster. Houses Mallister, Mooton, Crane, Banefort, and Crakehall all had the ships where their lords were on sink. There was little Stannis could do though, the longer they stayed here the more chance there was of more of the lords perishing.
"Stannis, come and join the fun!" Robert bellowed as if a child having the time of his life. In his hand was his war hammer which he was swinging all over the place. His movements precise and strong despite having gained some weight in recent years, his face as happy as Stannis had not seen in years. Truly, it was something to behold.
"Your majesty, we should retreat into the ship and-" Sir Barristan started but the king would have none of that.
"Nonsense. We are in the middle of an historical fight, how can I ignore something like that and go hide like some piss ant?" Robert said with a laugh as he swung his hammer once more, smashing the head of a sea monster as if it was a watermelon.
Stannis on the side could only do his best to command the ships and maintain formation, trying to direct the ships as best as he could while rescuing those he could manage.
"My lord, how much longer until we reach Cape Kraken?" Davos Seaworth, the adjutant and closest confidant of Stannis questions as he returns to the man. He was also fighting just now but the number of monsters near the two of them decreased thanks to Robert's efforts.
Well, not so much 'efforts' and more the spreading of so much blood and guts near him which caused more and more monsters to go towards the king and the kingsguard.
"We should be two hours away with our speed." Stannis said, hoping they'd get ashore soon and leave this cursed stretch of the sea. They had to find out just what exactly was going on and how far spread these sea monsters were. Stannis feared that this might just be a bigger problem than the Greyjoy Rebellion, and he was not incorrect on that.
The Greyjoy Rebellion was nothing in comparison to what had just started in this stretch of the sea and further abroad all over the world.
Planetos has changed, and no better proof existed than what they would see next, as the blue dragon they had seen previously once more flew towards them.
Stannis wondered if that just might be the end of them. They were already barely hanging on with the enemy before them, if the dragon rider came to also deal with them then the Fleet was truly doomed.
However, something unexpected happened. The dragon stopped a distance away in the sky and several individuals could be seen sitting on its back.
In the sky, one of them looked disgruntled and questioned Claude.
"Idiot disciple, do you really think we should save these people?"
Claude, on his end, just nodded his head.
"I would say yes. They might not be much right now, but we will be stuck in this world until something happens in the future that whatever God that bound me needs us to help deal with. If the people down there can help, or at least serve as meat shields, then why not?"
"Humph, I still think it is a waste." The first woman said as she pulled out several gems from her dress.
Claude raised a brow at that one.
"You will use the Noise to deal with the monsters?"
"Why not?" The woman said. "It is more efficient if nothing else."
With that, the women threw the gems into the water. The moment the gems hit the water they broke and hexagonal magic portals of sorts appeared. From the 'portals' weird creatures appeared. Their appearance was much stranger than even those of the monsters around, causing the soldiers with bows to try and attack them.
That did not go well. As the beasts just ignored and evaded the arrows.
Robert frowned seeing this, the kingsguard surrounding the king even more intensely as they were prepared to throw their lives away for the king if needed… Well, Meryn Trant and Boros Blount were the exception as the two ran away when they saw the Noise in action around them.
"Cowards, come back here!" Ser Barristan shouted as he saw the two running away under deck in fear instead of guarding the king.
Up above though, a frown appeared on the face of Claude as he saw that there were still some ships that seemed to be about to sink. He also frowned at the low number as he knew that even if the Redwyne Fleet had already split off at the Iron Islands, there still should have been around 300 ships in the Royal Fleet alone. While he only counted around maybe half of that.
"Seems we need to deal with these ships." He mutters before turning to his second companion who was on the back of Saphira. "Can you handle this?"
"Yes, leave it to me." The woman said, her movements making her rather large chest wave side to side.
Knowing her limits in terms of energy, Claude put his hand on hers and said.
"You can use drain touch if needed. Show off as much as you want."
The woman blushed a bit hearing this and their final companion on this trip furrowed her brows and said.
"You better behave yourself or I will exorcize you, lich."
"S-S-Sorry!" The said lich said in fright as she really did not want to get on the bad side of the blue haired woman.
Thankfully Saphira knew well what was happening and hit the last woman in her head with a mental slap.
"Ouch. Stop doing that, Saphira. What will you do if you make me go dumb?"
At those words, everyone else froze and Claude turned a serious expression towards Saphira.
"Girl, hit her a dozen more times. If she can turn simply 'dumb' it would be an improvement."
"That it would be." the teacher said as she continued to monitor her Noise down there.
"I mean, probably would not be so bad." The lich added awkwardly even as she began to use Drain Touch.
"I think I am not yet able to do such miracles." Saphira said, a bit down that she was not quite on the level of power where she could do something like that.
"Huh? What do you all mean? What is going on?" The beyond stupid blue haired one said but the others ignored her as the lich focused before she activated her magic.
Considering the sea surface she would need to cover it was a tad draining for her, but with Claude and, by extension, Saphira's help it was rather simple for her to cast her spell.
"Freeze." The lich said as she aimed at the water.
The Royal fleet froze in motion and stared in shock as the Ocean they were located on, the entire surface for miles all around, turned into solid ice. Even the ships that were toppling over or breaking apart were all frozen in place just as the water pulling them over froze. Seeing that this was done, Claude turned in search of the ship with the second most extravagant look and requested Saphira to move towards it.
The soldiers around were terrified, but they still did their best to hold their ground as they saw the dragon landing before them. Saphira was twice the length of the Royal Fleet's flagship and as she stared at the humans there they all felt inconsequential. Small. Some even felt almost as if they should bow to her.
"Who is the leader here?" Saphira asks, her voice resounding in the heads of all those present.
The remaining Kingsguard wanted to keep protecting the king, but Robert showed just what sort of man he was when he pushed them away and moved towards the dragon. He showed no hesitation even as he moved there and confidently said.
"My name is Robert Baratheon, king of the Seven Kingdoms and protector of the realm. I saw you fly from the Ironborn castle, and now you come to rescue us. What exactly is going on and what do you want?"
That was certainly not a diplomatic approach to things, at all really, but it was effective in getting the point across and considering it was Robert Baratheon, he was doing well by not shouting he would bash the dragon's skull in with his war hammer here and now Claude idly thought in amusement.
Saphira looked Robert up and down and felt like it was a bit of a let down. Sure, he had the spirit of a warrior, but he lacked far too much in terms of power in her eyes.
Still, she answered.
"It was not my own wishes to save you all, but those of my Rider." Saphira said, moving her body so that Claude could move down from where he was sitting, using the "Fly" black magic spell to float up and move in front of Robert.
The king stared in shock as this kid who looked too young to have even enjoyed a woman yet was the one who had saved the fleet apparently and was the first dragon rider in centuries landed in front of him.
He also quickly noted, with some great relief, that while regal Claude's looks were nothing like those of a Targaryen. Black hair even darker than those of a Baratheo and such vivid red eyes, it was certainly not the platinum white hair and purple eyes those inbred bastards were so proud of.
A great plus in Robert's impression of the boy, even if his possession of a dragon was not making matters all that great.
Claude, knowing he needed a good impression with the king, spoke up.
"Greetings, King Robert Baratheon of the Seven Kingdoms. My name is Claude Springfield, I am a mage who has happened to end up in these lands due to the actions of one of those under your rule. I understand from the man's memories that you were not involved in this summoning, so I won't ask for reparations despite what has happened. I merely desire not to be troubled at my newly established residence, a fair trade for saving you all in this hour of need."
Robert furrowed his brows. He wanted to deny the words of magic, but considering the boy was still floating, the seas were frozen, and monsters had just attacked his fleet, he could only do what he could and 'roll with the punches' as one might say.
"... I can consider it, but we will need to talk more about this. Can you get your thingies to help bring us back to land?" Robert questions even as the more devout amongst those in earshot showed some distaste at the thought of depending or needing magic to any extent.
"That would be slightly complicated. Would taking some members back to my housing while my servants come to try and help fix your ships be good enough?" Claude offers and many thought it would be a bad idea to accept it.
If just some of those present go now, it would mean they might be captured by this magician of unknown objectives. It was certainly far too dangerous for the king to even conside-
"Very well." Robert said, shocking many present.
Most would not even consider accepting such terms, but Robert's guts were telling him to accept it. Besides, he has always been quite a capable man to see friend from foe while he was in combat, an ability that helped save him many times during the Rebellion and even the Greyjoys folly. This instinct was only useless during peace times, but having just come out of a war and having gone through such a difficult battle right now, one could say his instincts were never as sharp as they were right now.
This Claude was not an enemy right now. If he was, then if he just did nothing, then many more of the fleet would have perished and even now it was obvious he could at least seriously hurt the army if he so chose. Besides, with these monsters right now, perhaps this magician would know what was happening. Probably more than whatever Pycelle would know, the old fart was only useful to keep his seat warm and find that good hangover medicine that Robert needed.
"Good, bring all those you desire to come along into one ship."
Robert raised a brow, but accepted and went to decide who should come and who won't. It would be quite a troublesome process that would demand a lot of thinking, planning, dealing with hurt and sensible prides, and-
"Stannis, you go handle this. I and this mage will go have a talk in my quarters and drink some good wine and-" That was as far as Robert went as he saw the three companions that came with Claude. His eyes directed specifically at one of them as he said. "Damn, those are the biggest I've ever seen."
Wiz covered her huge knockers as she saw the lecherous gaze from Robert. Meanwhile Aqua just giggled at seeing this, mentioning that Wiz deserved some fat lecherous king. As for Carol, the master alchemist just harrumphed and went to check the corpses of the monster fish that had attacked. She was curious to understand these monsters some more.
Claude just coughed in his hand and said to the king whose gaze was more laser focused than at any other point of his life, perhaps only below the time he gazed at that Stark phatt ass of Lyanna.
Seeing that the king would not be paying any more attention to him, Claude just turned to Aqua and said.
"Why don't you go make yourself useful and heal the injured?"
"Eh, but we were just about to go get some booze. You can go deal with that and-"
"You either go do what you came here to do, or I will confiscate all your precious wine and not let you get a single drop for three weeks." Claude said.
Aqua looked horrified at the idea of such a terrifying fate.
"You are evil, a tyrant, a monster!" Aqua said with her eyes glistening with tears of fear over such a terrifying fate. Funnily enough Robert Baratheon and around half of the ship's guards also looked horrified at Claude.
Claude though showed no care, just waving her off to go do her job. The girl turned around and went, Robert's gaze flickering for a few moments towards dat ass since the clothing she was wearing hid nothing and everything in a way that not even the greatest dornish whores could quite manage.
In the back of the ship, Stannis felt like facepalming over his brothers actions. But there was nothing Stannis could do about it since Robert was king anyway. All he could do was arrange it to where at least Davos would accompany Aqua to make sure nothing too bad happened while Stannis dealt with all the more troublesome things so his brother could go get drunk.
How troublesome.