Chapter 44: Chaos and Turn

Ser Wendel Manderly looked at the room in which he and Marq Piper were sat and frowned. The Iron Islands was famed for being poor, but he had not expected the Lord of Pyke and ruler of said Islands to also be poor. The paint was peeling off the walls and the bricks looked as if they were falling apart. There was a strong sense of dampness within the room as well.

Wendel had grown up dealing with such environments-when his father had become Lord of White Harbour, there had been some serious work needed-but it was clear from the way Marq continued to cough that his younger companion was not used to it. Wendel handed him a kerchief and hoped that would help stem some of it.

He wondered when Greyjoy would come. The man had refused to see them since they'd arrived. Oh the man had seen his son, Theon, but he hadn't seen the two men who had come with his son. That was a sign that something wasn't right. Something was going on here, but what he wasn't sure.

He blinked as the doors opened and in walked Theon. Theon Greyjoy, heir to Pyke, did not look as he had done in Riverrun. There he had basked in the knowledge that he was a favourite of the King. The man whose arrows had brought down Ser Jaime's horse. But here, here he seemed like little more than a child.

"Well? What's going on?" Marq demanded getting up and throwing the kerchief to one side.

Theon took a breath. Wendel suspected something was amiss. The man did not seem happy. "My father has rejected the King's proposal."

"What?" Marq said. "Why?"

Wendel looked at Theon's body language, the way he held himself, with his feet together, his hands by his side and he knew. "He's going to attack the North, isn't he?"

It made sense, Lord Eddard had taken the man's son and had been responsible for the deaths of some of Greyjoy's best men. He'd want to get his revenge that way.

"Yes." Theon said.

"Did you at least try and reason with him?" Wendel asked, though he doubted it. Theon did not seem to have the stones to reason with his father.

"I did try and explain why it would be better for him to fight for Robb, but he refused. He said he would get his revenge for the humiliation that was inflicted upon him almost a decade ago." Theon replied.

"So, what becomes of us?" Marq asked.

Wendel knew exactly what would happen, but he wanted to get more information before that moment came. "When does the Iron fleet leave?"

"Tomorrow. My uncle Victarion is commanding it. It will sail for Moat Cailin, or at least part of it will. The other part will head for Deepwood Motte." Theon answered.

"And what are you going to do?" Wendel asked, though he got the sense that he already knew that answer.

Theon shifted from foot to foot, then said softly. "I am going with my uncle."

"What?!" Marq growled, the man made to move at Theon, but Wendel held up a hand and stopped him. He looked right at Theon.

"You know the Ironborn will not win. They cannot hold the north." Wendel said simply.

Theon nodded. "I know."

"Then why are you going?" Marq snarled.

Wendel looked at Theon and asked. "What is to become of Marq and I?" He did not think that Balon Greyjoy would just allow them to leave, not when they could ruin his entire plan.

The doors opening again and men streaming in gave Wendel his answer. "I'm sorry." Theon said as he walked away.

Marq yelled, but Wendel sighed and said to Theon's retreating form. "Your entire family will fail. You cannot attack the north and arrest a son of the Deep."

The ground moved quickly underneath his horse's hooves. They were on the march, finally. King's Landing was to be their final destination, assuming of course that there was no battle with Joffrey the Usurper. Jon suspected there would be, but one had to keep a positive frame of mind.

Ser Jaime rode at the front with the King. Jon rode with Ser Barristan in the middle of the line, though close enough to the King that if something should go wrong, they could act quickly. Ser Arys remained in Riverrun with the Queen. There had been an argument about that it seemed, but Robb had gotten his way.

Jon blinked and focused on what Ser Barristan was saying. "As a Kingsguard during a battle, you will have one of two choices, either you will be commanding a part of the King's army, or you will be protecting the King or the Prince who is fighting."

"Like you did at the Trident?" Jon asked.

"Indeed, there I was guarding the Prince of Dragonstone, whilst my brethren commanded two wings of the army." Ser Barristan replied.

"And wasn't it just Ser Jaime who was left in King's Landing?" Jon asked cautiously. He didn't want to ask something that would aggravate the Lord Commander, but this was something he had long been curious about.

"Indeed he was." Ser Barristan said. "King Aerys felt that keeping Ser Jaime in King's Landing would serve as a deterrent for Lord Tywin."

"Where were the other three members of the Kingsguard?" Jon asked. Surely having the Lord Commander, Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Oswell Whent would have made a difference?

Ser Barristan said nothing for a moment and then when he did reply he changed the conversation topic. "When you are commanding a part of the King's army, your duty is to ensure that the battle plan is implemented. That means ensuring the troops under your command know exactly what they are to do and why. You must have effective chains of command and systems for implementing orders and change of direction."

"What if there comes a change in direction?" Jon asked. "Or if the battle shifts one way or another?"

As he waited for Ser Barristan to formulate his response, Jon looked around at their surroundings, most of the men were talking to one another as they rode or marched. They were all in file in a neat line, but there was one man who seemed to be moving forward quicker than the rest. Jon looked at him and then noticed that he was carrying a letter. The man must have come from Riverrun or from the rear. He focused back on Ser Barristan as the man finally answered.

"That is why having a good chain of command. If something changes then you can implement it safely and effectively. One thing that was lacking on the Trident was an effective route for responding to change. For instance, when Prince Lewyn went down, there was a sense of chaos amongst the Dornish, because his death was part of a trend of serious deaths for their host. Including the Prince of Dorne's father. As such, the Dornish had to spend time rallying, and by that point King Robert had managed to cross over to face Prince Rhaegar."

"And if there had been a better system to respond then that might not have happened?" Jon asked.

"Exactly." Ser Barristan replied. "Robert would've been kept penned up behind the works and Prince Rhaegar and his army may have been able to break through."

And how different things would have been.

Jon frowned as he saw another man carrying a letter coming forward. This man looked dishevelled, his hair all over the place. Jon raised himself up onto his stirrups to get a better look at the man who had gone before. That man was lingering.

"Ser Barristan?" Jon said then. "I think we might have a problem."

Foe.

Ghost's warning prompted Jon to move forward, Ser Barristan following. Jon drew his spear out from its place by his side and kept it level. He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting but he knew he needed to do something.

The closer he got, the more he was convinced the first letter bearer was not a friend. He raised his spear and held it in such a way that the butt would hit the man. The man saw him and panicked; a dagger appeared. "Enemy in the ranks!" Jon yelled as he swung his spear, the butt hit the man and knocked him down, his dagger falling to his side.

The man tried to get up, but Ghost crashed into him and used his weight to keep him down. Robb and Ser Jaime turned and looked at the scene before them, something flashed in the latter's eyes, and what he said next shocked Jon. "That man's from King's Landing."