Alright guys, here you go. Sorry this took so long, had a family issue come up and it put me off of writing for a bit so I took a hiatus. I'm back now, and I've got this newest chapter for you. Lot of explainations and some backstory in this chapter, but it's setup for what comes next. Hope you enjoy and thank you all for waiting, I know this took a while.
Darkness Reborn
Chapter 19: Recollections
The west.
Always a mystery, always like a jewel on the horizon.
In Arda, the west represented hope, prosperity, paradise, and perfection. Here in Westeros, the West represented the unknown, a distant thing. Something impossible, something strange, something teeming with possibilities. What lay beyond that horizon? What mysteries were held there?
An interesting similarity, yet not the first Lilith had noticed over the last few centuries. There were many things that were shared between these two worlds, many strange and unnatural connections. The biggest just so happened to be how the Weirwood trees connected to Arda.
It was a connection that had allowed Lilith to locate and reach out to her beloved brother not long after she had escaped her prison. Yet in all these years she had given that great tie, nary a second thought.
So much occupied her thoughts, so much needed to be done, could be done, that she had allowed such a strange connection to go, uninvestigated. Lilith pondered what that connection could mean for several long moments as her eyes drifted across the ceiling of her bedroom.
She felt a shift, someone nuzzled against her breast.
A small smile touched at her lips as her gaze slowly shifted towards the red hair of her newest bed partner.
Sansa Stark lay on her side, cuddled up to Lilith, clinging to her in a peaceful slumber. It was a foreign thing for the Dark Lady, to have someone hold her so tenderly and innocently, yet she was finding more and more that she enjoyed it. She enjoyed it almost as much as she enjoyed the possessive, and passionate hold of her beloved Sauron.
At the thought of her lover, she shifted her gaze over to him. Opposite of Sansa, he laid beside her, Tauriel next to him, her back facing them. Lilith took a moment to examine her slumbering brother, taking in the shape of his body, and mentally comparing it to the body he'd once had as Harry Potter. Both had their charms, and both had bits that she enjoyed.
As Harry Potter, he had grown into an athletic man, with a fit build. The glasses he wore, always made him appear more sophisticated than he really was. Despite being the Lord of a noble house, Harry Potter had always been awkward, a bit goofy, a troublemaker, playful, and overly chivalrous. For most of their teenage years, Lilith had this image of her brother in her mind, two images actually.
One was the man she knew he could be, and one was the man he was.
The man he was, always reminded Lilith of a young man who wanted to be a knight. Someone who wanted to be brave, and chivalrous, noble, and fair. Someone who was strong, and capable, and who could make things better. It was the kind of person Harry had wanted to be, but never truly saw himself as.
The man Lilith knew he could be, was that knight. Her knight in shining armor. She knew he was more than just a boy from under the stairs. He always had greatness in him, and Lilith had always seen it, even when others didn't, even when Harry himself didn't.
Intense emerald orbs, found themselves meeting her gaze. Her thoughts drifted back into focus as Sauron awoke, sensing her gaze upon him. He returned her stare with a charming smile. His eyes momentarily flickered to the slumbering form of Sansa, before returning to her with a raised eyebrow.
Lilith smirked in response, using one of her hands to run her nails along the naked flesh of Sansa's back. The actions was slow and gentle, earning a soft purr from the werewolf as she snuggled closer to Lilith, trying to meld deeper into the warmth she provided.
Both Lilith and Sauron smiled at her reaction, knowing full well they had Sansa completely wrapped around their fingers.
The eldest girl of the Stark brood had finally found her way into their bed, two weeks prior. After returning from the meeting with the Tyrells, with word of the marriage alliance between Aegon and Margaery, Sansa felt pressure weighing down on her.
She became agitated after hearing the news, as she worried that her chances to be with Aegon were running out. She wanted desperately to just give in to her desires, but a part of her held back for fear of what her family would think, what Robb, Arya, and her uncle Benjen would say when they learned of her desires for her cousin.
It was in her agitated state that Arya finally spoke up, and told her to stop being a coward. Lilith had actually caught the conversation, after having spoken with Sansa, the two had spotted Aegon passing by in discussion with several of his lords. Lilith moved to join him, while Sansa held back, pining after him.
Arya, always the intelligent and observant one, could clearly see how badly Sansa wanted to be with Aegon and finally just called her out on it. Lilith caught the accusation as she was leaving and stopped to listen as the youngest daughter laid into her older sister about not going after what she wanted.
Sansa spent all of a full second trying to deny it, but Arya just rolled her eyes and called bullshit. She said that it was plainly obvious that Aegon liked Sansa, and Sansa had made it perfectly clear that she had much deeper feelings for him, as well as a growing attraction towards Lilith. Arya told her plain and simple that she was a werewolf, and because of that, she shouldn't be afraid of going after what she wanted.
When Sansa tried to ask about Robb and Benjen, and even their mother, Arya again rolled her eyes and asked if Sansa truly believed that Robb and Benjen didn't know. The two of them were also werewolves, and could no doubt smell Aegon's and Lilith's scent on Sansa. Arya even said she was almost certain that Benjen knew and had nothing to say on the matter, and while it was up in the air if Robb knew, Arya was confidant that after everything Sansa had been through, all he wanted for her now, was for her to be happy with someone she loved. If that just so happened to be Aegon, well than at least Robb knew the man was honorable and would treat Sansa right. Beyond that, what Catelyn thought was not really of much concern to Arya, the rebellious child that she was. So long as Sansa and Aegon were happy with each other, Arya didn't really care.
The pep talk from her younger sister actually did wonders to help motivate Sansa to finally accept Aegon and Lilith's advances.
That night she joined them in their bed, and Aegon claimed her virginity. It was an interesting night, as while Aegon was gentle with his sibling/cousin, he was also invested in making sure Sansa developed a healthy interest in sleeping with them. While he made love to her, Lilith took great pleasure in tormenting Tauriel. Tauriel was naturally disgusted by the act of incest, as well as Sansa's loss of innocence, but the depravity of it all was amplified when Lilith spent most of the night making Tauriel watch the two as she brought her elven slave to repeated orgasms.
Tauriel was naturally humiliated and ashamed and spent the remainder of the night curled in the fetal position with her back to them all, trying desperately to hide how mortified she was.
Sansa barely seemed to notice Tauriel's presence that night, she was to focused on Aegon and basking in the joy of finally being with the man she loved. Before the night ended, Sansa got to watch as Aegon and Lilith fucked, both of them using their lovemaking to show the young werewolf what they enjoyed.
Sansa attempted not to stare, as Aegon took Lilith from behind, but Lilith focused her natural allure on the girl, and kept drawing her attention back to the scene until Sansa couldn't look away. Once her attention was hooked, Lilith motioned her over, and before she really knew what was happening, Sansa was having her pussy eaten out by Lilith, and that's how she stayed until Aegon and Lilith were done for the night.
At it's end, Sansa and Lilith lay cuddling, with Aegon laying by their side, admiring their beauty, as well as his handiwork.
In the days that followed, Sansa learned a bit more about their captive in Tauriel, and her role as Lilith's servant. They kept from openly calling her a slave, but got the point across that she was a captive, and was working for her place by seeing to all of Lilith's needs.
Many walls came tumbling down after that, with Sansa basically moving into their bedroom at night. Aegon kept his showings of affection to a minimum but they did increase, and become a bit more open. He wasn't exactly hiding it, as no doubt guards and servants would quickly take notice of Sansa coming to their bed chambers at night and start to talk, but he wasn't making it blatantly obvious either.
Whenever Aegon would go out on hunts with his newly formed pack, Sansa was very obvious with her showings of closeness to him. In wolf form she would often trail by his side, or nuzzle up to him, her actions quickly drawing notice from Benjen and Robb, both of whom eventually cornered Aegon about it.
Lilith had also been present for that conversation as well.
After admitting that they were now together, that they had feelings for each other and that Aegon intended to make Sansa another of his wives, Robb got the opportunity to admit that he had long suspected there was something more going on between them. Not just now, but even as kids. Sansa had always been cold to him, up to a certain point. Once that point had passed though, her coldness became 'forced'. And Robb had taken notice of it.
Benjen fully admitted that he'd known of Sansa's affections for Aegon for years. As a ranger and a man of keen observation, he'd noticed long ago how she'd often steal glances at him, or just stare at him when she thought no one was looking.
Aegon replied that while he wasn't surprised that Benjen had seen it, he was a bit surprised that Robb had. He teased his brother, and claimed that he always seemed to preoccupied with fooling around with Theon, or with girls, or learning from their father, to take notice of much else.
Robb admitted that it was actually Theon who had pointed it out to him. In not so appropriate terms, he had made mention that it looked like Sansa was 'pining' for Aegon. After hearing that, Robb started to pay a bit more attention and he began noticing how Sansa would sometimes act around Aegon, the same way girls would act around him, or Theon.
Just as Arya had suspected, Benjen didn't overly care. He wasn't Sansa's parent, or Aegon's. The world was a dark place and full of danger. If Aegon could give Sansa a safe and happy life, than that was all that mattered to him.
Robb felt much the same. He did offer the brotherly warnings though that if Aegon did anything to hurt Sansa or dishonor her, than king or not, he'd have to deal with the angry older brother.
Aegon accepted their acknowledgments and Robb's warning, and promised to take care of Sansa and make sure she was happy.
And he most definitely kept to that promise as far as Lilith was concerned.
Over the last few weeks they'd taken the time to turn Sansa Stark into their plaything in the bedroom. Less and less, Sansa hid her attraction towards Lilith, and became more open in engaging with her in an intimate fashion.
On the surface, everything seemed to be going wonderfully, only one issue of note seemed to be nagging beneath the surface. Something that bothered Sansa, but it was something she didn't appear comfortable in bringing up. When Lilith inquired to her twin if he knew what was bothering the werewolf, he informed her that Sansa remembered the night he turned her, but he'd tricked her into thinking it was a dream.
She now didn't know what to make of it, or how to approach that particular event in her mind. Was it still some sort of twisted dream that was also some warped form of a prophetic vision? Sansa didn't know, and it bothered her a bit, and it did exist as something that would nag at her thoughts.
It had yet to be addressed, but it seemed that Sansa was far more interested in just enjoying her newfound relationships.
Lilith enjoyed her in bed, and fully intended to continue training her as a loyal ally, that Lilith could and would use to keep the other women in line.
Already Lilith knew she'd have to keep a close eye on Margaery Tyrell, the girl was every bit her grandmother's granddaughter. The Queen of Thorns had trained Margaery well. The girl gave off an outward appearance of being kind, benevolent, generous, and good-natured, and in many ways she was actually all of these things, but Margaery Tyrell had a darker side, something that Lilith caught during their brief meetings before they left Bitterbridge, and that was that Margaery was ambitious. She may have been a good person, but she was ambitious enough to use her own kind nature as a tool to influence people. That made her dangerous, and extremely useful.
Lilith needed to know how far Margaery Tyrell would be willing to go, but if the young woman lived up to her grandmother's legacy of confidence, than at the very least, she'd have the drive to go far.
For now, there were still to many unknowns when it came to Margaery so Lilith would have to wait and see, but until then, she'd be busy ensuring that she had Sansa under her control.
Slowly Sauron sat up, his movements, careful, so as not to awaken the werewolf. He leaned down and gently kissed Sansa's cheek before sharing a more passionate kiss with Lilith. The two held the kiss for several long moments before pulling apart, Sauron's cool gaze trailing over Lilith's beauty as he retreated and climbed out of bed.
Finally he turned away and began to dress. He departed not long afterwords, leaving Lilith alone with her thoughts. The Dark Lord allowed her thoughts to return to pondering recent events.
At the moment, an army led by Randall Tarley marched into the Stormlands, headed straight for Storm's End. That army consisted of a large portion of the Iron Titan's army, as well as the army raised by Willas Tyrell that had marched to Bitterbridge from Highgarden. The Iron Titan, along with his remaining forces, marched to Harrenhal, while Mace Tyrell's force would hold position at Bitterbridge, and prepare for an invasion of the Crownlands.
With that split of their forces, it would mean that at Bitterbridge, Mace Tyrell would command some twenty-two thousand men. From Harrenhal, the Iron Titan would command roughly nine thousand orcs and some northmen, while Randall Tarley would invade the Stormlands with roughly thirty-thousand men and orcs.
While the man had little knowledge of how to lead orcs, goblins and other dark creatures, he was quick study in the ways of warfare and after hearing of the capabilities these twisted creatures possessed, he would no doubt, find a use for them. Randall Tarley was a hard, and stern man, one both Aegon and Lilith approved of. This was his chance to prove his reputation. If he truly was as good at commanding soldiers as people claimed, than he would use this army to seize Storm's End from the Lannisters. If he was successful, than the Lords of Shadow would know for certain that they had gained a skilled and powerful commander for use in future wars.
According to information provided by the Tyrells, the Stormlands were in a state of disarray, with various lords supporting the Lannisters, or supporting Stannis, some even supported no one. Right now a Lannister host ruled from Storm's End, but it had little to no support from the capitol, and Stannis himself was apparently still on Dragonstone. The Stormlands lacked leadership and unity, and were thus, easy pickings. The sight of the sizable army commanded by Randall Tarley, would be enough for some lords to surrender outright. Lord Tarley was under orders to march straight for Storm's End, only halting his advance if any of the various Storm lords mounted a resistance. Once at Storm's End he would gauge the resistance he would face in taking the castle. Nearly five thousand orcs were with him, a fifth of which, were goblins, capable of easily climbing the walls of the castle. Lord Tarley also received all of the Iron Titan's spiderling riders, which numbered at five hundred. He also had twenty olegs and five graugs who could also be used as siege engines. If it looked like Randall could assail the castle with the force he had, than he was ordered to do so, but if not, than he would send a message back to Bitterbridge where Aegon's agents were waiting with Mace Tyrell's host, and they would send word to Aegon who would in turn head out himself with his dragon to assist in the attack.
Due to the disarray in the Stormlands, Aegon wanted to take it quickly and not waste time and resources marching his whole army to the Storm's End, instead he intended to prepare them for an attack on the capitol. Mace Tyrell had twenty thousand at Bitterbridge while the Iron Titan would command around ten thousand from Harrenhal. Both would prepare to act as the vanguards for an invasion of the Crownlands with the Iron Titan attacking from the north, while Mace Tyrell would march his forces back up the Roseroad to attack from the south. Aegon's and Lilith's main host at Casterly Rock, of which there was roughly ninety thousand, would march across the Gold Road and attack from the west.
The whole attack though, hinged on cutting off the capitol from the sea. The Redwyne fleet had been ordered to set sail around the continent and make for King's Landing. When the fleet began to close in, the vanguard forces at Harrenhal and Bitterbridge would begin marching, and would encircle the capitol and lay siege to it while they awaited the arrival of the main force traveling from Casterly Rock.
In the mean time, while they waited for the Redwyne fleet to circle around the continent, Aegon and Lilith were preparing for a meeting with Dorne. Prince Oberyn left from Bitterbridge around the same time Aegon and Lilith did, and he took the body of the Mountain with him, with Aegon's blessings, along with a request for Prince Oberyn to beseech his older brother for a meeting so that they could discuss Dorne rejoining the fold.
When Prince Oberyn asked if there were any requests the Dragonwolf had for the Dornish, things for them to consider before the meeting, Aegon expressed to him that he held no ill-will towards the Dornish and simply wished for them to peacefully rejoin the Seven Kingdoms. A simple oath was all he required of them, and while he didn't need the Dornish army for his attack on the capitol he would definitely appreciate having them. Aside from that, he had a minor request. If it was no major issue, Aegon wanted the girl Mrycella Baratheon. When asked why, Aegon answered that she'd be a useful tool in securing the Westerlands and or the Stormlands, and due to the nature of his plans in King's Landing, the girl may well be one of the last surviving members of House Lannister and eventually, house Baratheon, so she was very useful in that regard, even if she was a bastard born of incest.
When asked if he believed the claims, Aegon admitted that he did, but that some people wouldn't, and would still see Mrycella as a rightful descendant of Robert and Cercei, which made her useful in securing peace. She wasn't so valuable that he was willing to start a conflict with the Dornish over her, so if Prince Doran was steadfast in having the girl married to his son, than so be it, but if not, than Aegon would happily find a use for her, and free up the young prince for a more beneficial marriage.
Prince Oberyn accepted his request and departed to Dorne, they'd yet to hear back from the Dornish though in all likely-hood, that was because they were busy celebrating the death of the Mountain and the upcoming fall of House Lannister.
Aside from that all going on, little of interest had occurred in the past few weeks. Margaery Tyrell, her grandmother, and eldest brother had returned to Highgarden, though they intended to join Aegon at Casterly Rock, in the near future. Already, Aegon was thinking of a proper wedding gift to give to his Tyrell bride, and had come up with an intriguing idea of having Lilith heal Willas Tyrell's legs, and returning the Tyrell's heir to them in a proper fashion. Much like how healing Bran had gained Lilith the admiration of the Starks, healing Willas would do the same for the Tyrells.
Within an hour, Lilith had risen from bed, and took to wandering the castle to check on her various projects. She was trailed by her elven slave the entire time, the elf keeping her eyes on those they passed by, keeping watch for any dangers. Not that she had any love for Lilith, or a desire to keep her safe, but looking out for dangers was a way to keep her mind occupied, and ensure that she wasn't actively focused on what Lilith was doing.
The elf's greatest dread came whenever Lilith would go to check on her beast growing in the waters beneath the castle. Tauriel had been present when the bloated creature's body burst open and thousands of hungry, monstrous little creatures came pouring out, eating everything around them.
The manic little water devils spent the next few weeks eating their mothers corpse, until finally they began eating each other. The smell of death was a constant in that watery chamber. The putrid scent of rot and soured water filled the air. Daily, Lilith would have a corpse brought down into the chamber and tossed into the pool, where the beasties would feed upon it. Every day there were fewer and fewer, but it never seemed to dissuade the dark lady, in fact she seemed to approve of the little monster killing each other. She was searching for the strongest of the brood, the one who would serve as her familiar, and dominate the seas.
These little beasts looked like squids, but with many more tentacles. They were small at first, each one about as large as a grow man's thumb, not counting the length of its tentacles, but as the days went by and they ate more and more, the creatures grew until now they were as large as a bass. Within the mass of tentacles, was a vicious round mouth, filled with rows and rows of jagged, needle-like teeth.
The monstrous creatures had a ravenous appetite that never seemed to dull, and Tauriel grew more terrified of them with each passing day.
Thankfully, Lilith didn't usually go to see her little pets until the end of the day, so Tauriel had time to mentally prepare herself for the newest collection of horrors she'd be forced to endure when the time came.
Around midday, Lilith passed into the Main Hall, to participate in court. She sat beside her beloved Sauron and took part in the various discussions and events of the day.
Something of interest did occur, late in the day, the arrival a woman shook things up a bit. She was fully armed and covered in full body armor. By her side, a rather jovial squire. Robb Stark seemed to recognize the woman immediately when she stepped forward.
"You, I remember you. You were the one who returned with my mother from her meeting with Renly Baratheon." Robb addressed her.
"I am, my lord. I am Brienne of Tarth." The woman responded.
"You're the one who aided Jaime Lannister is escaping after my mother freed him." Robb noted, causing whispers to spread throughout the hall.
"Lady Stark commanded that I see Ser Jaime safely to King's Landing, in the hopes that with his return, Sansa and Arya Stark could be freed, and I could escort them back to their mother." Brienne said in response.
Aegon raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at Robb, who was staring down at the woman with a critical gaze.
"It doesn't seem the exchange went as planned." Lilith hummed with a chuckle.
"No, my lady. It did not. Lady Sansa escaped not long after we arrived at King's Landing and Arya was not there. I departed not long afterwards to try and locate lady Sansa and see her safely back to her mother." Brienne explained, earning a slow nod from Robb.
"While I do not agree with her actions, I chose not to punish my mother for what she did. Because of that, I will not punish you for simply following your lady's commands." Robb stated after a moment of contemplation.
"I thank you, my lord. There was something else though. Ser Jaime could not see his promise to lady Catelyn kept, but he did see to it that I was armed and armored, and sent to search for Sansa in order to keep her safe. He offered me this sword, so that it could find it's way back to where it rightfully belongs." Brienne said to him, removing the blade from her side, and holding before her.
"I do not recognize that sword. Nor do I know of it's meaning." Robb stated.
"My Lord, Lord Tywin had your family's ancestral sword melted down and reforged into two separate blades. One he kept, and the other he gave to Ser Jaime, who in turn gave it to me. It may not mean much, but it was the best he could do to see that at least part of his oath to lady Catelyn was kept. He hoped that I would find lady Sansa and that I would use this blade to keep her safe until she was returned to her family. And thus a part of the blade could be returned as well." lady Brienne explained, earning surprise, concern, anger, and caution from many within the room.
Robb stood in silence for a moment before sharing a look with Aegon. After several moments Robb circled the table and descended down towards Brienne. She offered the blade to him, which he took, drawing it and running his eyes along the Valyrian Steel pattern that was once apart of his family's famed ancestral sword Ice.
"You say this blade was reforged from Ice, that the other half is still with Tywin Lannister?" Robb asked as he eyed the blade.
"Yes, my lord. He gave this one to Ser Jaime, I don't know what he intended to do with the other." Brienne answered.
"And Jaime Lannister gave it to you? So that you could protect my sister?" Robb questioned, raising his gaze from the sword.
"Yes, my lord. I swore an oath to your mother, that I would defend her children and see her daughters safely returned home. I do not know if Ser Jaime ever intended to hold to his half of the bargain your mother struck with him, but he had at least enough honor to see me properly armed so that I could follow after Sansa, and ensure that she was kept safe until she returned to her mother's side." Brienne expressed, earning a slow nod from Robb.
He stared down at her for a moment, before his eyes fell to the blade once more. "My mother told me you were one of Renly Baratheon's King's Guard? I assume that means you know how to use this?"
"Yes, my lord." Brienne replied.
"Sansa and Arya are both here with us. They need someone to look out for them, their own sworn sword. So long as you hold to the oath you swore to my mother, you will carry this blade. Use it to defend my sisters, until the day your oath is fulfilled." Robb declared, offering the blade back. Brienne took in a breath and received the blade, placing it back on her belt and offering a firm nod.
"I will see this sword returned to Winterfell one day, my lord, alongside all of the Stark children." Brienne declared with firm determination.
"I will hold you to that oath, my lady." Robb responded with a nod. He slowly turned and began heading back towards the head table, as he did Brienne offered a bow to Aegon, but before she could retreat to the crowd, Aegon rose to his feet.
"Lady Brienne, before you step away to seek out your charges, I would ask for a moment of your time after court. You were deep in the enemy's camp, and I would like to hear, of what is occurring within King's Landing." Aegon commanded.
"Your grace." Brienne responded with a bow.
From there, court resumed. Robb was left deep in thought for the remainder of the afternoon and barely said a word until court broke for the day. Afterwards, he joined, Aegon, Lilith, and several other high ranking lords and generals to question lady Brienne about what she saw and may have heard while within King's Landing.
They learned from Brienne that the city itself was filled to the brim with refugees. It's resources were being drained almost as fast as the Tyrells could provide them. Now with the Tyrells having sworn themselves to Aegon, King's Landing was in danger of starving itself with so many mouths to feed.
Brienne even spoke of some events she'd heard about from before her arrival such as major riots that had occurred before Stannis attacked the city. Besides the massive influx of bodies, the city itself was being turned into a fortress. The walls were being reinforced with a deep mote that was being dug around the city. From the populace of refugees, Tywin was forcibly conscripting every able bodied man. The Red Keep itself was awash in soldiers, at almost all hours of the day they were either running drills or attempting to fortify it further.
Brienne was able to confirm that the keep itself was being outfitted with ballistae and scorpion emplacements, why they were being put in the Red Keep, and not on the surrounding walls of city, Brienne didn't know.
Aegon suspected it was to offer those weapons some cover so they could be used to shoot down dragons. Tywin had learned from the long history of Westeros that dragons were no invincible, and could thus be brought down with such tools. Unfortunately for him, none of the beasts he currently faced were ordinary dragons. Even Aegon's own mount, Umbra, who had been born a regular dragon, had been amplified and mutated with dark magics, along with being granted power from the dark lord through their bond. Smaug and Midir were both of a different breed, and no man-made crafts could hope to pierce their hides.
After hearing what she had to say, the commanders spent the rest of the day in discussions, taking into account all that they'd learned and determining if it was going to affect their overall plans.
The following day, a messenger arrived with a letter from the Eyrie.
It was delivered to Aegon who read it's contents and swiftly summoned his top commanders to meet with him.
Once they were all gathered he began.
"A letter arrived here by messenger. A letter from the Eyrie. I want to start out by offering my condolences Robb, Lord Edmure, Lysa Arryn is dead." Aegon began, informing him of the first bit of information the letter contained.
Robb shared a glance with his uncle and offered a solemn nod. Lysa Arryn didn't mean much to him, but she was still his aunt, and she was Edmure's sister. She was family, at the end of the day, and it was never easy to lose them, despite the difference they shared.
"Thank you, your grace. I'm assuming you didn't summon us all here, just to tell us that?" Edmure asked after a moment to compose himself.
"No. I know this news is heartbreaking, but the letter contained more information. Information important to our plans." Aegon informed him, earning a nod from the lord of the Riverlands.
"This letter came from Petyr Baelish. Apparently he was wed to lady Lysa in the hopes of forging a tie between the crown and the Vale of Arryn. Petyr Baelish is now Lord Protector of the Vale, until young Robin comes of age. The boy has expressed his desire to help his cousins in this war, and so lord Baelish has summoned the knights of the Vale. They are riding to Harrenhal under the command of Lord Yohn Royce, and lord Robin and Lord Baelish will come to the capitol after the battle to swear their fealty to house Targaryen." Aegon explained the remaining contents of the message to his surrounding supporters.
"Littlefinger… never understood how that scrawny little weasel could climb so high. Still though, if the Vale is offering their aid in the attack, and promising to swear fealty, than I see no reason to turn aside his offer. Mayhaps there's some truth to it." Edmure offered after a moment of thought.
"Or maybe it's a trap." The Blackfish warned.
"The Knights of the Vale are fresh. They haven't been bogged down in this war. A large section of their armies consist of heavily armed knights and lancers. Their medium and heavy horse could be used to devastating affect against our forces on open field." Roose Bolton agreed.
"Lysa Arryn refused to commit her forces to ours during the early stages of the war, and she hasn't yet. Now she dies and suddenly Petyr Baelish is sending out the Vale's armies to fight for us." Robb noted.
"It's fishy. Then again, Baelish is a clever little weasel. Unlike Lysa he's not so touched in the head. With the Reach on our side, and Randall Tarly wading into the Stormlands, there's no doubt in my mind that Baelish sees which way the winds are blowing. The Lannisters are done for. All that matters is the time." The Blackfish agreed, further noting the reasoning behind this change in doctrine.
"Baelish is making the intelligent move. He may be a weasel, but he's offering his kingdom up on a silver platter. If his offer is genuine, that would mean one less kingdom for us to take. Once King's Landing falls, all that will remain is Dorne, and the Iron Islands. Dorne is likely to join us, so if Baelish and Robin Arryn bend the knee, that means all we have to do is cast down the Ironborn, and the war will be over." Lilith spoke up, Aegon nodding in agreement.
"There is still the possibility of a trap. We can't underestimate the cunning of Tywin Lannister, and what he can force others to do for him." Roose again warned.
"True. Thankfully, we have a countermeasure already in place." Aegon noted, pointing down to the map of Westeros that sat before them, drawing all eyes to it.
"Gothmog and his army just passed by Moat Cailin on their way down from the Far North. If the Knights of the Vale attack our forces at Harrenhal, the Lord of the Balrogs and his forty-thousand troops will fall upon their backs while they attack the ruins of the castle." Aegon informed them all.
"Alright, we have that as a safety precaution. Did Baelish express how many men were coming?" Robb inquired.
"They are riding with great speed, some roughly twelve thousand men. Eight thousand of which are horsemen." Aegon answered.
"A decent force. Mixed in with Gothmog's army, and that of the Iron Titan, and that'll raise the force at Harrenhal to roughly sixty thousand. A force large enough on it's own to march on the capitol." Lilith noted, earning many whispers from the surrounding lords and warchiefs as they all digested this information.
"Everything is falling into place. The Lannisters will soon meet their end. It wont take more than a few more weeks before this war finally comes to it's end. Prepare our forces, we will begin our march to King's Landing soon." Aegon declared after a moment of thought. His command was received by nods and bows from his lords.
Not long afterwords, the room was emptied leaving Aegon and Lilith alone with one another.
"Our years of preparation are about to finally pay off. The whole of this continent will be in our hands within months. From there, we can turn our eyes towards Essos, and the Blue Wizard." Aegon stated, his gaze turned towards Lilith, who stared back at him with a smirk.
"The West is ready to fall. The East, stands divided, leaderless. Ancient feuds, and cultural differences, separate them. One by one, the kingdoms of men, shall fall. Only one thing stands in our way. The Blue Wizard, and your Aunt, Daenerys Targaryen. Her dragons and the wizard, are the greatest threats left to us, in this world." Lilith replied to him.
"The greatest, maybe. But they are no true threat. When we march upon Arda, it will be with the severed head of the Istari mounted upon our war banners. The moment he chose to follow us here, his days became numbered." Aegon countered, his eyes beginning to glow a hellish orange, as his smirk mirrored hers.
"Darkness shall reign, and wash over this world, brother. When King's Landing falls and this continent is ours, you and I shall wed, forging a unity that will topple all the free peoples of this world. Essos, Sothoryos, Ulthos, all will fall to us. This world will know only the rule of darkness, in the days to come. Our time of hiding is coming to a close my dearest Sauron, our ascension, is at hand!" Lilith declared, her eyes, now matching her twin's.
That night, the twins fucked like wild animals, taking Sansa and Tauriel and leaving the two redheads exhausted and breathless for most of the night leading into early morning. Come the dawn, Aegon found himself down in the training yards, with Lilith surprisingly joining him.
She stood on the side lines for a short while, admiring his sword skills and how quickly he was improving. In this new life, Sauron had taken to learning the ways of martial battle, allowing him to hone his incredible power to a razors edge. His skill with a sword was noteworthy before but he was far from the most impressive specimen when it came to blade work. In all reality he was vastly outclassed by many great elven warriors and even some of Maiar who specialized in fighting.
As Harry Potter, he had learned how to use a sword but he was not exactly elegant with it. He knew enough to get by and use one, it allowed him to wield the Sword of Gryffindor against Lilith during their early lives, though in those days Lilith was the far better swordsmen. Wielding her own personal blade Ira, she could easily best Harry in a dual with it, if they were just using swords. That wasn't to say she was a master with the sword, oh no. Compared to the elves and Maiar of Arda, Lilith's current skill with a blade was rather amateur, only surpassing that of lowly men, yet some of those descended from greater men could display much greater skill than her with a blade.
It was an interesting dynamic shared by the two. As twins in their early lives, they mirrored each other in many ways. She was good with a blade while Harry wasn't. Harry was good on a broom stick but Lilith wasn't. Harry was excellent at transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, while Lilith was better at Charms, and Care of Magical Creatures. Harry loved being outside and spending time with people, Lilith preferred to be indoors, often tucked into a book, or otherwise quietly keeping to herself. Despite their shared history, the two had vastly different areas of expertise, vastly different desires. It's probably what drew them to one another. Opposites attract as they say, and with the two being so wholly reliant on one another for everything, they ended up seeing one another as the only other person who could ever really understand them. At least, that's how Lilith viewed it.
When she fell into darkness and began to engross herself in the Dark Arts, she learned where her greatest skill lay. She could accomplish things with magic that few others could even hope of achieving. Without boundaries, without rules, Lilith could do almost anything, and that made people afraid of her.
At first, Lilith hated that people were scared of her. She didn't like that people shied away from her, or wouldn't meet her gaze. And she hated how she had a temper. She'd lash out at people who annoyed her, or take great offense when people would involve themselves in her business without her consent. Looking back, Lilith knew that she was never a 'sweetheart' or a 'good girl'. She was always a bit temperamental with people, and she had a hard time displaying the empathy she felt for others.
Harry never seemed to have that problem. He was kind, and he tried to be thoughtful, even if he sometimes failed. When he saw people in pain, he tried to help them, or he at least offered them his concern. Lilith never found it that easy to share in other people's pain. She could never just bring herself to offer someone in need her help.
It wasn't that she never wanted to, it was just hard, because people were scared of her, and because of how they reacted to her presence, she preferred to go through life unseen. In her mind, only one person's attention mattered, and that was Harry. So long as he saw her, it didn't matter if anyone else did. Since people were scared of her, or they thought she was a freak, she found it easier to simply not stand out.
Again, in hindsight, that was probably a major contributing factor to her downfall. Of all the adventures that Harry and the rest of the 'Golden Trio' had been involved in, Lilith had been there to aid them in some capacity or another.
She helped her twin on his adventures, and was always there to see him rewarded for his accomplishments. It never bothered her that she was never given even an ounce of credit for her own contributions. She didn't like being seen, so it didn't matter to her. So long as Harry was safe, and happy, and so long as he was still her friend, nothing else matter to the young girl.
Had she grown out of that mentality, had she become a bit more open and a bit more willing to show herself, things may have been different. The future may have changed. It wasn't hard for people to see Lilith as dark, or twisted, when all they knew of her was that she was a loner, with a temper, who had no friends, and always seemed to stare at her famous twin brother.
In truth, now that so much time had passed and Lilith could reflect on all that had happened, it didn't surprise her that Harry would eventually turn on her. He was the opposite of her in a lot of ways. He wanted people to see him, to acknowledge that he existed. He didn't want to be famous, but he didn't want to be nothing either. He just wanted to exist. So when all of the people who acknowledged him, called him friend, told him that his twin was turning dark, that she was wrong in the head, that she was becoming something twisted, he didn't dismiss their accusations outright.
As much as it hurt, Lilith did understand it. She was a loner, she was misunderstood, she was ill-tempered, and she apparently showed no interest in aiding the Boy-Who-Lived, in spite of the fact that she should be his biggest supporter.
People saw what they wanted to see, and with all of the people he loved telling him these things, Harry couldn't help but start to see it too.
The situation wasn't helped much when Lilith started to show a romantic interest in Harry.
It began during their third year at Hogwarts, and during the summer afterwards, Harry began to take notice of her attraction, and his own affections for her began to manifest as well. By that point in time, the twins had 'graciously' been gifted a room of their own by their uncle and aunt, though it only had one bed, and barely a blanket and a single pillow. Sleeping on the floor was a no go, as it was to hard, and one of them would be out a blanket.
So they were forced to sleep with each other, which normally wouldn't be a problem as they had done so numerous times throughout their lives, but by now, puberty had hit like a nuclear bomb, and with the twos growing attraction towards each other, incidents began occurring.
While Harry was often mortified when he would awaken to find a morning erection pressed against his sister, Lilith actually enjoyed it. She liked to imagine that it was her that was causing it, and she liked to use that as evidence that he liked her as much as she liked him.
Despite knowing that it was wrong, and trying to avoid things progressing further, Harry was having a hard time as he secretly did have an attraction towards Lilith, it wasn't just something she was experiencing, he felt strongly towards her as well. The only real difference between the two was the Harry knew it was wrong and tried to fight it, Lilith knew it was wrong and didn't care.
He had always been there for her, and she wanted no one else. No matter how wrong it was, or how people would view her, he was all she needed in life, and for a time, that was all that mattered.
Fourth year was an experience to say the least, with Harry ending up in the Triwizard Tournament and Lilith dealing with her own mess involving the Beauxbatons champion. That in an of itself was the source of Lilith's attraction to women, it had all started with that Veela, who seemed to take it personally when Lilith told her to go fuck herself, for spending a few to many seconds staring at Harry.
That eventually led to the flirtatious Veela teasing Lilith and attempting to entice her with all manner of lewd actions. Needless to say, by the end of the year, Lilith was left thoroughly sexually frustrated due to her inability to get with Harry during the school year, and with Fleur Delacour, constantly teasing her and embarrassing her.
Fleur was probably the first person to ever realize that Lilith was in love with Harry, not that she would say anything about it. The Veela had their own taboo rituals when it came to teaching their young girls how to control men. Lilith knew what they did and knew that Fleur hadn't been a virgin for many years, by the time they first met.
In truth, all things being equal, Fleur probably ended up teaching her own little sister a thing or two in a not so platonic way, and because of that Fleur was unlikely to see anything strange with Lilith's own attractions.
The two were by no means friends, they were more akin to rivals, but even that fell short of the nature of their relationship.
Lilith never forgot the Veela's flirting, and how it had affected her. So when the time came and the world went to shit, courtesy of Lilith's machinations, she made sure to repay the Veela in kind for what she'd started.
Thankfully things were allowed to return to semi-normal after fourth year. Voldemort had returned and Harry blamed himself for it, and the death of Cedric Diggory, but at the very least, Lilith got him all to herself for a few weeks, and in that time she helped him manage his grief and they developed a closer romantic bond, which would have gone even further if not for the sudden arrival of the Order of the Phoenix which swooped in to take them to Sirius Black's ancestral home.
The pros were that the twins got to spend time with Sirius, cons were that now they were once again, unable to be together.
It was around that time, that Molly Weasley, the insufferable twat, began pushing her insufferable twat of a daughter on Harry. Lilith did what she could to keep the youngest Weasley away from her brother, but Harry was just to nice for his own good.
He let her in, and in a few years time, she'd have him wrapped around her finger.
Fifth year sucked. Evil bitch of a DADA teacher made life hell. And to top it off, the only other person in the world that Lilith was starting to like, Sirius Black, met his unfortunate end at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.
Sixth year sucked even worse, as Harry spent the entire time depressed, and the whole damn castle seemed stuck in a perpetual state of semi-darkness, where all the colors seemed muted for some godawful reason. Harry never seemed to notice, and everyone looked at Lilith strange when she mentioned it. Only Luna Lovegood ever seemed to understand what Lilith was talking about when she mentioned how visibly gloomy the castle was that year. Unfortunately no one ever seemed to understand Luna, so that wasn't much of a help.
The only upside to Sixth year, was the apparent death of the Headmaster Dumbledore. Lilith just wished it would have stuck longer than it did.
Seventh year, everything went down. Harry and his nitwit friends, alongside Lilith spent the better part of the year hunting for Voldemort's soul fragments.
Than at the end of the year, Lilith helped her twin defeat the Dark Tosser in a battle for the ages, which ended in Harry's triumphant victory. It would later be reported that the Boy-Who-Lived, 'single-handedly' defeated Voldemort in that final duel.
For the first time in a long time, Lilith was genuinely happy. She had thought that with that done, they could just finish school and her and Harry could just run off somewhere and be together. The illusion of that fantasy held for the remainder of the year, but it came to an end when Harry told her that they couldn't keep going, that they had to stop and they had to find other people to be with.
To her great shame, she had cried then, begged him to stay with her, and for a night he did. He gave her at least that one last night to share with one another, before they finally put an end to it.
Not long afterwords, Harry and Ginny began openly dating, and man did Lilith have to fight herself not to visibly seethe any time she so much as heard about the two of them.
Harry tried really hard to show his affection for Ginny, most likely in an attempt to convince himself that he really loved her. Maybe he succeeded, maybe he didn't, Lilith didn't really know, all she did know was that it succeeded in pissing off, to the point where she would actively leave the room any time Harry would walk in.
For the first time in her life, she was running away from her beloved twin, often times fighting off the desire to burst into tears.
Looking back on those days, Lilith couldn't help but sigh, and feel unspeakable shame. She should have just hexed the bitch and sent her packing. She should have staked her claim on Harry, and never let go. That last night they spent together was full of love and passion, when in should have been filled with the most mind-blowing sex he could have imagined. Bastard shouldn't have been able to think straight for days,
More often than not, when she looked back on her childhood with Harry, Lilith wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab herself, and shake herself silly. She wanted to beat a backbone into her younger self, and beat some sense into her numskull twin.
She was a stupid teenage girl then. Barely a woman, and she allowed her feelings, and fantasies, to cloud her vision of what was happening around her.
Maybe if she hadn't been so heartbroken and had paid closer attention, she'd have seen how people were manipulating Harry much earlier than she did. She'd have known how people were starting to view her and her studies into dark magic.
She didn't know then because she was young and stupid.
Her ignorance had cost her something, something important that drove her deeper into dark magics, into self loathing, and eventually into full blown hatred.
When the recently returned from the dead, Lord of Light, Dumbledore himself declared that Lilith's dark tendencies were a direct result of Voldemort's influence, people believed him. Hell even Harry, hesitantly bought the load of shit, so when the Aurors came to arrest her, no one said a word. When she was brought to a special chamber where a ritual was being prepared, no one spoke out in her defense. When she begged and screamed and cried to be released, that she wasn't evil, that she wasn't influenced or under Voldemort's control, no one believed her.
They used some sort of ancient ritual in an attempt to purge the darkness from her. They believed that she was a hidden horcrux, that not only had Harry been one, but she had been too, and that they only had two choices in how to save her. Either she had to die, like Harry did, or they could try this.
Needless to say, when Harry heard the options, he chose the latter.
He was there that day, he tried to calm her down, to explain to her that they were only trying to help her. He had been convinced by those around him that there was a source to his twin's darkness, that it wasn't who she was, that she was being manipulated. It was only later that Lilith would learn that Harry had been tricked into believing this for a while now. Probably since around the time he officially broke things off with her at the end of Seventh year.
They performed the rituals, and in the end, none of what they'd hoped for was accomplished. In fact, the ritual backfired. It didn't purge her of any malevolent dark lord fragments, instead all it did was make her deathly ill, and it sterilized her.
Clear as day, Lilith could remember the look on Harry's face as he sat by her bedside, listening as the doctor at St Mungos, explained to her what had happened.
Their little ritual had left her unconscious for three weeks and near dead for most of that time. Hearing that she had been stripped of the ability to ever have a child of her own, it broke something in her that day.
Harry was mortified and apologetic. He didn't leave her side for days, but she didn't say a word to him, she didn't even look at him.
When she was finally strong enough to leave the hospital she did so with great haste.
She made her way to Grimmauld Place, Sirius's old home, and the home she and Harry had taken as their own after Seventh year. Harry tried to talk to her, tried to apologize. His friends and his girlfriend were there too, trying to convince her that they were only trying to help. Lilith didn't say a word to any of them. If looks could kill though, each one would have been dead.
She spent that entire day packing everything she owned. Harry himself was mortified by the sight as he literally watched in slow motion as he lost the only family he had left.
The only two words she said to him that day, the last two words she said to him for over a year, were right as she was leaving. He tried to stop her tried to stand between her and the exit. Her response was to hold out her hand and say, 'My wand.'
Harry was very quiet for a long time. The look of sadness in his eyes, the heartbreak on his face. Lilith hated to see him like that, hated how hurt he was, and she hated how much she cared for this stupid man who'd taken away any and all avenues she'd had to find some true companionship in the world.
She couldn't be with him, and now, she couldn't even have a child of her own, thanks to his stupidity, and the ruthless moronic nature of those he surrounded himself with.
With great sadness, Harry returned her wand to her. The wand he'd collected after she was arrested.
Not more than a moment after the wand was in her hand, he started to say something, but she instantly banished him hard into the door frame of the front door. Harry collapsed in a heap, his friends crying out for him and rushing to his side.
Before apparating out of there, Lilith locked eyes with her twin one final time, and allowed for every ounce of her hatred and anger at him to finally be shown.
She cried then. For only a moment, tears fell from her eyes, as she matched gazes with her beloved twin.
He said her name, it was so quiet he may as well have just mouthed it.
Even now though, Lilith could hear it said so clearly.
"Sophia…" He muttered to her. She never went by that name again. She heard it often, as Harry never stopped calling her by her birth name, but that day, it stopped holding any meaning to her. It would be a few years before she truly became Lilith, but that moment, when Harry looked into the eyes of the person he'd betrayed, the person who'd loved him the most, when he said her name that day, it was the last time that name, ever held meaning for her.
Never again would her name spur any kind of reaction from her. In the years to come, she would take on the name Lilith as she dabbled in the darkest of arts.
For a year after her departure that day, she searched for a way to undo the affects of the backfired ritual. She dabbled in all sorts of magic, from healing to charms, to various rituals, but eventually her studies led her into the Dark Arts, and than the blackest of magics.
What had started as a way to heal herself, soon warped into a desire to hurt those who'd take everything from her.
Her revenge started small at first. It started with the goblins that had provided the ritual to the Ministry.
It started with a large crate. Within the crate she placed a magical beast, a drake, vicious and wild. She stunned the beast and placed it within the crate. She then shrunk the crate and mailed it to the goblins with certain charms in place to trigger the box to enlarge and awaken the beast within, when the box was tampered with.
Just as she'd expected, the goblin defensive wards picked up the menacing dark creature within, and when the box was opened, there was a troop of goblin warriors ready to skewer the drake. They killed it before it could do any damage to the bank.
Than, as they are apt to do. The goblins harvested the beast's corpse. And just as Lilith anticipated, they fed on it's meats.
Meats that she had poisoned.
The goblins defensive wards would have warned them of the poison, if they'd bothered to double check them, but when the threat was so obvious, and easily countered, they hadn't felt it necessary.
As if in an attempt to insult their would-be attacker, the goblins feasted on the beast's corpse. By midnight that night, a third of the goblin clan were shitting themselves to death, while another third were vomiting every few minutes.
Come dawn, nearly half of the goblins who'd participated in the feast, were dead. The poison causing their bowels to begin to rapidly break down. Included in the list of the dead with almost all of the goblin chief's family, including the chief himself.
Needless to say, the bank was shuttered for a few weeks.
Which in turn led to massive protests from witches and wizards who couldn't gain access to their funds.
Naturally the goblins blamed the attack on wizard-kind, while the wizards had no idea what they were talking about. The entire time, Lilith watched from the background, taking in the upheaval she'd caused. It had never been her intention to stir up racial issues between the goblins and humans, but she'd done so, and got a front row seat to the chaos that came from it.
It stirred something in her, seeing the anger and vitriol that boiled over between the two races. Made her feel better to see other people so upset.
From there she only got worse, her plots began to expand, and she began to actively target those that had harmed her.
Through her actions, more would unravel, and secrets would eventually come out, but that was still a ways off. This was just the beginning of her life, of her existence as Lilith.
It still hurt to think about sometimes. It still hurt to remember the wedge that had been driven between her and her beloved twin. Despite how much she hated him for falling for Dumbledore's bullshit, for how much she hated him for seeing her like everyone else did, a part of her never stopped loving him.
Like the saying goes, love and hate are separated by a razors edge, and that was true for her without a shadow of a doubt.
She hated him for ruining her hope. She hated him for being so blind and not seeing the good in her. Those memories would never truly disappear, and for the longest time she never thought she'd forgive him.
It was fascinating to see how far they'd come.
Standing here now, her beloved twin had spent more time by her side, than he had as her enemy. He'd been there for her for so long now that it took actual effort to remind herself of the time they were once foes.
She felt his eyes upon her, drawing her out of her musings on the past. He was staring at her, watching her with a curious gaze. He could tell she was deep in thought, it was plastered on her face.
A small smile touched at her lips as she took in the sight of the man of her dreams.
He'd changed so much since those days, he'd become the man she'd always known he could be. He was strong, and fierce. His heart was firm, and he shielded it from those that would use it against him.
He was a good man once, and yet now, he was something far greater.
With Sauron by her side, nothing was impossible. The two would seize this world, and all others that came after it. One day they'd stand before the old headmaster, and make him pay for all that he'd done to them.
One step at a time. For now, Westeros was poised to fall. Within weeks, the battle of King's Landing would begin.
-To Be Continued-
Alright, there you go, hope you enjoyed you guys.