A/N: Alright, this isn't a very long chapter and there are definitely more things that I could have put. I had to write this one in a hurry, as Finals for tests are next week for me and I have to study. Hopefully, you all will enjoy this chapter. Stafford arrives in Storm's End, appoints people to the council and does a little planning. But more importantly, he reunites with Edric Storm. After about a few more chapters, the first battle will begin, but it will be in Robb's POV, as the war will start in the North. Stafford will enter into the riverlands conflict, but after the three months of mobilization. Then he proceeds to the Westerlands, to try to strike at the Rock. Reviews will be pushed back to next chapter as I don't have enough time to respond now. Thank you for all the support
Enjoy!
Stafford
Storm's End. The giant castle built upon Durran's Point was what Stafford would call his home from now on. They had spent nearly a month navigating the treacherous high seas, going through some storms, and finally they had hit Storm's End. There was no safe anchorage in the cliffs of Durran's Point, so they had to use a secret passage to the castle itself. Since there was no such anchorage in Storm's End due to its location, they had no port. Therefore, at least according to what Stannis had told him, they had kept three quarters of their navy in Greenstone or even Weeping Town. Dragonstone held the final quarter of ship, that they had, but they did not worry about a naval invasion of Storm's End, as no one was getting through Durran's Point by sea. The only way to take Storm's End was through direct land confrontation. And Stafford knew that Stormlanders fought till death and beyond, even in the face of a siege.
Stafford stood on the stern deck of the ship, observing the monstrous castle as it towered above it. He saw the jagged cliffs that extended to the bottom of the sea below them. Those cliffs could definitely cause a ship wreck, especially at night. That's why Stannis didn't allow us to begin our approach to Storm's End until the night. Stannis had guided only two ships from the fleet to make the final approach to Storm's End. He had to disembark Fury, because only Stag of the Sea was small enough to fit in the cavern entrance. He stood by Stannis, who had made sure he was on board when they entered the cavern. He didn't want a mistake to happen, causing Stafford to get stuck in the cavern. He wouldn't be able to fight a war then.
"I haven't been here for years," Stafford told Stannis.
"You better get familiar with it fast then. This will be your seat of power for the duration of this war," Stannis told him, "We need to dock fast and get you to the castle, so that we may discuss certain arrangements for you." Arrangements?
"What do you mean by arrangements?"
"You are a king, Stafford. While you haven't captured all of the Seven Kingdoms yet, you are still a king. We need to get matters like your small council, your kingsguard, and everything else before we begin,"
"I've only just arrived in Storm's End, and I already have important business to take care of…" Stafford paused, "Can't I just not attend the small council meetings like my father did?"
"And where is your father now?" Stannis said with some harshness in his calm and deep voice.
"Point taken. So what other things do we need to do? I honestly just want to get to the fighting…" Stafford stated.
"There will be plenty of fighting when the war begins, Stafford. That I can always assure you."
"Indeed," a grim whisper filled his ear. Stafford turned his eyes away from the approaching Storm's End, and turned to see who it might be. It was Ser Barristan, already in full combat gear. His resplendent white plate armor shone like a star in human form, pale as the whites of his eyes and etched in golden scrollwork. He wore a longsword at his side and an alabaster kite shield upon his arm. His long hair and beard streamed from his face, his warm eyes crinkling happily upon seeing stafford.
"We're not going to be besieging Storm's End, Ser Barristan," Stafford jested, "Why in the seven hells are you in full combat attire?"
"I must make sure my mind and body is prepared at all times," Ser Barristan told Stafford, "You never know what might happen. You need to expect the unexpected."
"We're nearing the cavern now. If you're easily seasick, or if you hate tight spaces, you might want to go below deck," Stannis suggested. "On the second thought, head to the quarters instead. Below decks are going to be even more cramped."
"I'm not afraid of anything,"
"Suit yourself then. And when we dock in the caverns, do tell your lady we have arrived. She might think we shipwrecked into a cavern, and that will cause unwanted panic in her," Stannis stood strong and regal on the ship's prow. Did he just try to make a joke?
"Noted." Stafford stated as Stag of the Sea entered into the cavern.
After having to clear some of the obstacles that were used to defend the castle from the cavern, Stafford, Stannis, Ser Barristan, Odyn, Sansa, and even the squires were all dropped off in the secret passageway leading to the basement level of the drum tower. This little underground sea cavern was the only way to bypass the defenses of Storm's End. But even when they docked the ship, which immediately left to rejoin the fleet somewhere in the Summer Sea, to go to their final destination of Greenstone, to rejoin the rest of the navy, the group was accosted by some guardsman, which numbered about one hundred. There was always a detachment of garrison placed here to make sure no one would use this loophole in defense to get into Storm's End.
"Your grace, we have been waiting for your arrival. Lord Renly would like to see you immediately," One of the guardsman stated. Stafford simply nodded, and the rest of the people accompanying him followed suit and followed the guardsman.
They managed to traverse the intricate passageway, and at last after a short journey, they made it to the dungeons of Storm's End. Every single person imprisoned in the dungeon, which was only two to be exact, glared at Stafford's group as they passed by. Sansa stayed close to Stafford, especially when they passed by some criminal, who was almost a head taller than Stafford. Even Stafford shuddered as he passed by the heathen. A smile was carved into his cheeks, and his eyes were lidless as he stared at the procession. Stafford would have rather traversed the crypts, but even then the crypts were located somewhere else. The Storm Lords didn't want to be buried anywhere near the passageway. Even in death, they were paranoid that they would be the easiest to raid if they were located where the dungeons were.
"What a… Charming abode." Odyn declared as they finally climbed a stairway out of the dungeons. Dusting his lamellar clad shoulders, he coughed lightly.
"You should see Dragonstone's dungeons. You'll be surprised how many pirates we have to imprison before they are executed at Dragonstone," Stannis responded matter of factly.
Once they were out of the dungeons, they finally managed to get out of the basement level of the tower. Finally, they managed to get to the Great hall of Storm's End. And as soon as they entered the hall, they were finally greeted by someone who had been waiting for some time.
"You finally decide to show up, nephew," Stafford's uncle Renly stated surprisingly in his green armor flanked by some knights that Stafford had recognized as Ser Herbert Bolling and Ser Cortnay Penrose. Renly held out a hand for Stafford and Stafford shook it.
"I don't know what you'd do without me, Renly," Stafford jested.
"I don't what I'd do either, Stafford. I could imagine I would still be fighting against Joffrey regardless of whether or not you decided to follow through with our plan, that's for certain."
"You know me Renly, a fight is not a fight without me." Renly chuckled.
He then turned to the others in the group, "Well I hope you find Storm's End to be better than King's Landing. The servants will show you to your quarters if necessary. Some of you might be sleeping in the barracks if need be."
"Where will I be staying?" Odyn asked Renly.
"Surely, a guest quarters shall do for now. You all should be getting some rest after I heard of the battle that happened while you all escaped."
"Better than the barracks at least,"
"That it is. That it is." Renly stated. Stannis and Ser Barristan stepped forward while servants showed the two squires, who had survived the fighting.
"Excuse me, Lord Renly, but can you show me to my quarters?" Sansa asked him. Lord Renly stated.
"You there," He beckoned a servant. "Show the lady to her quarters. Or if you'd prefer, she can show you to Stafford's quarters. I'm sure he wouldn't mind sharing a bed with you." Sansa turned red and Stafford turned in shock.
"I-don't think I'm ready for that…" Sansa managed to say.
"I'm not either!" Stafford yelled.
"I didn't see you complaining about the arrangement I made with Stannis that set you up with her during your journey here."
"So it was you who made a share a bed during the journey!"
"Who else would it be, Stafford?" Renly mocked him. Stannis immediately cut the conversation up abruptly.
"There will be plenty of time to catch up after we take care of some important business," Stannis sternly instructed. Stafford and Renly immediately got a little more serious, as the two of them knew they did not want to upset Stannis. He was a valuable ally, and it to their benefit them to see that he is not upset...or enraged.
"Fine, let's get to the small council chambers and discuss business," Renly replied calmly.
"We have a small council chambers?" Stafford asked, surprised by this.
"Well, we basically converted the tactician's room in the barracks into a small council chamber. It isn't as big or as sophisticated as the one in King's Landing, but it'll do." Renly replied.
"Let me have a few words with Sansa, and we'll get down to business,"
"Just make it quick for now. You two will have plenty of time to bond later." Renly, Stannis and Ser Barristan made their way to the pseudo small council chambers, while Stafford and Sansa were left alone in the main hall with the servant of course. The servant simply wandered off to a nearby area, while the two of them talked.
"How are you holding up," Stafford asked. He wanted to know what she was feeling. Granted, after she lost her father to a brutal execution at the Sept, she might not exactly be feeling to elated about that. Stafford knew and experienced how the loss of his father was to him. To him it was devastating, to lose such a presence in his life. While intuition told Stafford reasoned that he spent a great deal more time with his father than his other siblings, even his mother, because of their common interests of hunting, combat, and of course food, he felt that Robert Baratheon was something he strived to become. Not the King Robert Baratheon, who spent most of his time as a king whoring and drinking his life away, but the Robert Baratheon, who was Lord Paramount of Storm's End. The Demon of the Trident, one of the finest warriors with a warhammer or any weapon for that matter in the history of the Stormlands. The man, who vanquished Rhaegar Targaryen in single combat, the man, who only lost ONE battle in the entire Rebellion, and brought the Targaryen Dynasty to its fall. It was much greater loss to her, though as her father had always been there for her, even though he was a high Lord in Winterfell. Stafford hadn't spent a great deal of time with Lord Eddard Stark, but he knew that he was an honorable man, who had the trust of his father for good reason.
"Fine. Just fine." Sansa told him. Stafford could still sense the sadness in her voice, but he knew that he done the right thing. He couldn't just abandon her in King's Landing leaving her at the mercy of his brother Joffrey, while he was off fighting a war on his own. He couldn't imagine having to try to get her back, or try to fight a rebellion to get her back, like his father had done with Lyanna. Stafford wouldn't allow anyone to take her, and if someone did, they were going to fight his attempts to get her back to the death of him.
"Listen, I know the loss of your father caused you much grief. I can never forgive those who caused it, even if it is my own brother. Mark my words, you will get your retribution, that I guarantee. But what's important right now is that you are here...safe," he grabbed her by the hands, "As long as I draw breath, there won't be anyone who will hurt you anymore." She smiled at those words and Stafford did too. As they stared into each other's eyes, they felt like the surroundings were not even there. Stafford could only see her, and Sansa could only see him.
"Well isn't this interesting!" Stafford heard a voice say. He was so startled by it, he immediately turned to see who it was. It looked like Stafford was staring into a mirror image of himself, except his ears suddenly doubled in size. They both had inherited the black hair, the deep blue eyes, jawline, and even the cheekbones of House Baratheon. Stafford had some slight, but very slight deviations from Edric, that could make him look a little bit like a Lannister, but one had to look almost at an inhuman view of him to see this. They were about the same age, but Stafford was a year older than Edric. He had his fifteenth nameday recently, according to Renly, but since none of the Baratheons, and his father was sort of dead, he didn't receive the nameday present he usually got from father. Instead Stafford had to deal with the death of his father, not very pleasant for the both of them, "Aren't you two going to you know...kiss?"
"Edric! What did you see?" Stafford demanded now growing deep red. Sansa had her head down trying to hide her embarrassment.
"I saw enough," Edric laughes, "So you got yourself a lady, and I have to say I'm impressed. But she can do better than you though, I mean being almost mirror image of father might set up for a mirror image of Rhaegar to come your way."
"Funny, Edric. It took a lot of sacrifices to get her, I'm not about to lose her,"Stafford laughed.
"I heard. You snatched her right away from my… well your half brother, Joffrey. Renly told me all about his true… parentage," Edric began, "Good on you! Did he cry?"
"I'm not sure he was pretty upset. But that's what he gets for mistreating her,"
"Well said, brother," Edric stated.
"Sansa, I have a little meeting to attend to. I'll see you just in time for supper,"
"Alright," she stated finally following the servant out as well.
"Stafford,try not to get your Stark kidnapped like father did. I don't want you upset,"
"Like I said, brother. I won't."
"So you're telling me we can raise about raise about forty thousand thousand troops in the Stormlands, but it'll take three months to gather them?" Stafford asked the rest of his little council. Currently the room was composed of people from the Stormlands, Ser Barristan Selmy, Ser Herbert Bolling, Ser Cortnay Penrose, Stannis, and Renly were all from the stormlands. There were no others there, so Stafford assumed he could only guarantee that he received the thirty thousand from the Stormlands.
"Unless we can broker an alliance with the Tyrells, that will double our force and given that Stannis can get about ten thousand from Dragonstone, we would have about ninety thousand troops," Renly added in.
"We can also ask for men from the North, I'm sure Robb Stark might spare some men for our cause if we ask him," Ser Barristan stated.
"How much can we expect?"
"If we can wait a year, about forty thousand troops can be raised in the North, but we can't afford to wait that long, so we can expect at most ten thousand, if he even decides to "
"Ifs news about what happened to Joffrey circulated yet. We don't know if Robb Stark would be so forgiving about the actions you took in regards to the betrothals,"
"Last I checked, Joffrey ended the official betrothals when he killed Lord Eddard Stark. Anyway, One hundred thousand or even ninety thousand men is enough to be a large force in the war,"
"Predicting numbers of troops is futile, once we give the call out in the Stormlands, the narrow sea, and other places we might be able to get men out of, then we can plan out our actions with the troops we get. Then we'll see how diplomacy works out with the Starks in the North, and even Highgarden. The figures of troop numbers only estimate what troops we have, for now, we need to focus on other important matters," Stannis stated
"Like what?" Stafford asked rather impatiently. He now knew why father had been avoiding these type of serious meetings. They were both unpleasant and very taxing on the health to attend to.
"One of the important things to discuss is one of the things that caused a delay in the mobilization. You spent almost two extra weeks in King's Landing with your little attempt at saving Lord Stark and literally taking Sansa from Joffrey. We need to discuss the implications of your actions, especially with your little friend, Sansa," Renly began stepping in for Stannis.
"I mean, I know my actions weren't exactly the wisest when it came to Sansa, but I couldn't leave her there,"
"Rumors are beginning to circulate about the degree of your relationship with her. Some are even comparing it to the way Rhaegar took Lyanna from your father. What we decide about it will affect the outcome of many of our goals,"
"When she's ready…" Stafford paused a little bit knowing the gravity of the words he was going to say, "I would like to marry her." Almost utter shock entered the room with these words, but everyone probably knew deep within him, he was going to say this.
"Well Stafford that can't happen now, you two are not of age yet to consider that possibility, she's only fourteen," Renly stated, "But, you are the king, so its not like we can stop you. But think about the other possibilities with those type of arrangement. I mean you could even negotiate with Lord Mace and get Margaery's hand in marriage, probably guarant-"
"I don't want anyone else, I don't want Margaery Tyrell, I don't want anyone from the Stormlands, seven hells I don't even want Arianne Martell, wherever she is. I want her,"
"We understand, Stafford. You have your mind set, and we can't change it. When the time is right all of us will fully support you and Sansa, but right now we have a war to fight and we just wanted to see where you stood on that," Stannis stated
"This meetings is getting a little long, can we discuss the rest later perhaps, I'm rather tired from the journey," Stafford began, "Actually, before we dismiss the council for today, I want to make my first appointments in the council,"
"Well we might as well get this over with then," Stannis replied, "You already know the basic positions, and there are only few in this room, so name and they shall be so," Stannis got out some parchment and waited for him to write things down.
"Alright, let's begin with my hand. Sure, I'm not really much of a king yet, and Renly and I agreed that I got by the title of Lord Paramount of Storm's End to begin with, but we'll have to assign a hand eventually," Stafford began. He paused a moment to think he should appoint. Stannis was better suited to be his Master of Ship, so he wouldn't appoint him. Plus, he planned to give him two responsibilities in the council to make him at least feel important to him, "The hand shall be Lord Renly Baratheon, and once we claim the throne, Storm's End is yours once more." Renly smiled and nodded.
"I'll try not to let you down, nephew," Stannis wrote it down and then looked up at Stafford for the next one.
"For both Master of Ship and Master of Laws, I appoint Lord Stannis Baratheon," Stafford declared. Stannis looked up at him, but wrote things down. He was probably surprised to receive two responsibilities in the small council.
"And lastly for now, Lord Commander of my Kingsguard, Ser Barristan Selmy. As well as Ser Cortnay Penrose and Ser Herbert Bolling to say their vows on the morrow to be the first members to take the white, if they consent " Stafford finally managed to declare. Ser Barristan stood tall, finally receiving his position that he truly deserved. Ser Cortnay Penrose and Herbert Bolling nodded in consent. Stafford finally rose as Stannis put away the parchment.
"Alright, while our work for today is done. We must take this time to rest, and take the time to begin our preparations for war. The war is just beginning, my friends," Stafford declared, "For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. I aim to not miss the future, as the only thing in the future I can see is victory!" And so it begins