Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve
Jon was between a sword and a wall, or rather a Wolf and a Lion, a fortnight ago he stole the shipment of ten million gold dragons he borrowed from the iron bank, a loan of much gold that never arrived in King's Landing, as was to be expected from someone desperate he sent notes to every lord he had as a friend so they could lend him even a Gold Dragon, but some of his letters were never answered as in the case of the Tyrells, Martell, Tully.
He could pay the kingdom's bill using his gold, the Arryns were a wealthy house, but he did not wish to spend the gold his house produced if he could ask the other houses that wanted a little power, because a loan to the crown generated just that, power.
Something that Jon did not realize, perhaps by magic or idiocy, since the Arryns, especially Jon, always showed or appeared to be honorable people. And as a last resort, he asked the Starks and Lannisters for gold, and as if both houses colluded with him, the Starks were going to pay the gold to the Iron Bank, while the Lannisters were going to lend him the ten million gold dragons he asked. Indebting the crown with a total of twenty million gold dragons.
This gave the North and West an amount of power that even he could not imagine, for now, anything he said could be damaging since they saved the crown from the lack of gold, and now the crown was indebted to those two houses.
That they were not going to hesitate to take up arms, no matter that the North had some degree of respect for Robert, they respected him but were not loyal to him, a great point in the story, for if Eddard was the ruler in the North, they were all going to be loyal to Robert.
Whereas Tywin wasn't going to overlook that his daughter was queen, they owed him gold, and if they insulted him, he will attack them with the return of said gold or an attack was as simple as that. So simple that it made him angry, to think how the fuck he was going to pay that kind of money to those houses. They currently had considerable power, any request they made had to be listened to because of the debt they owed to these houses. No doubt he was in real trouble, although he was the only one affected as Robert didn't give a damn what happened to the kingdom, as long as he could fuck whores and drink wine he didn't care.
At that moment he thought, why not support Eddard to be king of the seven kingdoms, he saw how Ned looked at the throne, he even sat on it, but he thought that at any moment Eddard could be manipulated by someone other than him, and that did not suit him.
Now he realized his mistake, the North was out of control, the realm had no balance and his wards were no help to him.
Ned was completely loyal to his cousin, he didn't answer his letters, and even more so now with the small conflict that was brewing between the Greyjoys and the Starks, he was going to put a great distance between the crown and the North, but he wasn't going to do anything as he saw a great possibility of weakening the North. It also didn't help that Ned's in-law parents wouldn't do shit to control the Greyjoys, the Tullys didn't realize that the North would be able to attack them quietly, but I didn't think Harry would have the balls to invade the Riverlands, even though next to that land was the Vale. And both the Vale and the North were not very good friends, the tension was simmering, and at any moment it could wake up.
- "Lord Hand, thinking too much will only lead to the wrong decision" - Varys made an appearance in Jon's chambers, who was sitting at his desk thinking about how to get out of this mess, of course, a problem that Varys would benefit from, with the crown weak, several kingdoms would want the crown and a new rebellion would take place, which would weaken Westeros - "Things are thought calmly... and solved with the same calm... that's my humble advice."
- "Wise advice if we were dealing with weak houses, lions and wolves are not easy to deal with and even more so knowing who the lords of those houses are" - Jon was not an idiot, he could not trust Varys, he knew he was up to something, even if he hides it that his actions were for the good of the realm, he did not believe that at all, only an idiot will believe a person who gets information and can quietly modify it to his liking, that was Varys the spider - "The Starks became rich in the blink of an eye, and with that, the North became rich and powerful.... the only one in the North who rules is Harry Stark, no one will go against him... in the West the Lannisters, led by Tywin Lannister, no one disobeys... houses from different kingdoms, but with leaders who are practically idiots who will stand against them."
- "The Boltons will pass information to us, if when they make their strike, the crown and the other kingdoms support it, then House Stark will be extinguished" - Varys saw that Jon was interested in that information.
They were lucky that the Boltons were idiots, their lust to rule the North did not give them to understand that they were being used, best of all, they weren't asking for gold as many others would do to pass on information, they were asking for military support, which of course they wouldn't do as the north's defenses were impenetrable and even more so now with Moat Cailin rebuilt.
- "That's the kind of idiots we're talking about, I want all the information I can get from the North, to stop their advances, I can't let the North break the balance of the Seven Kingdoms" - What Jon was afraid of was that the north would rebel, because the first people they would attack were the Arryns, and they had many enemies internally, so a weak north was much better than the current one, and what it could become - "Though if we succeed in killing Harry Stark, Ned will take over Winterfell until Ashara's youngest daughter comes of age."
- "It is a risky move, but I will inform our benefactor" - Varys showing respect left the place with a big smile on his face, Jon was very easy to manipulate, you only had to say words that were out of context that he thought, to make the worst decisions possible, his ambition was that everyone knew that he was the person who reigned in the seven kingdoms, that would be the downfall of everyone in Westeros.
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Iron Islands.
The Iron Islands are a group of eight islands located in the Sea of Dusk west of the Trident River and the Neck, just northwest of the Westerlands, the islands are; Pyke, settlement of Houses Greyjoy, Wynch, and Botley. Great Wyk, settlement of Houses Merlyn, Goodbrother, Sparry Farwynd. Old Wyk, settlement of Houses Stonehouse, Goodbrothery Drumm. Harlaw, settlement of Houses Harlaw, Volmark, Stonetree, and Kenning. Monteorca, settlement of Houses Tawney and Oakwood. Saltcliff, settlement of Houses Saltcliffey Sunderly. Black Tide, settlement of House Blacktyde, and finally Lone Light, settlement of House Farwynd, which is eight days' sail from Old Wyk.
These eight islands were what made up the Iron Islands, the sea surrounding these islands is rough and stormy, and the islands were the only place where you could find shelter or safe harbors.
The inhabitants of these barren islands are known as Iron Men in the rest of Westeros and as the Ironborn among themselves. Iron Men are men of the sea and their naval supremacy was once unrivaled. They are considered independent, fierce, and sometimes cruel people.
They live in harsh and arid lands and have no affection for the hinterland and its green roads. The Iron Men based their culture on plundering other lands, leaving the work on the islands to the serfs.
The Faith of the Seven of the Andals and the Old Gods have little adherence, with the Drowned God being the main religion of the islands.
The islands were once ruled by House Hoare, who managed to keep the Riverlands and much of the Westlands under their rule. Their line ended with the death of Harren the Black and his sons at Harrenhal, the monstrous castle he had built on the banks of the Eye of the Gods.
Aegon I came to Harrenhal intending to make Harren bow the knee to him, but Harren refused to surrender the castle, so Aegon rode his dragon Balerion and burnt King Harren and his sons alive in the towers.
The Iron Islands are now ruled by House Greyjoy of Pyke, who was chosen after the death of Harren and his line. After the fall of Harren the Black and his descendants, the lords of the islands chose as their ruler Vickon Greyjoy of Pyke, whose descendants continue to rule.
And now the ruler of the Iron Islands was Balon Greyjoy, a tenacious, brave, and quarrelsome man. He is tough, even when it comes to his own family, and his faith in the Drowned God is absolute. He is a follower of the ancient ways of the Iron Men, which he was trying to bring back into practice just now that the Tullys were no longer much of a problem for them.
Which were the old ways, was a term to hide the true nature of the Iron Men who plundered and raped. This way of life, largely due to the scarcity of natural resources in the Iron Islands, refers to acquiring the resources of other nations by force, rather than promoting trade relations. Thus, tradition has justified and promoted plundering on the mainland coast to enrich the islands' booty and to provide labor for mining and farming.
The daughters of iron men have as much right as men to fight, plunder, or even rule a ship. The sea is said to give its women the appetites of a man. Those who marry become central pillars of their families and have almost the same privileges as their husbands. But for all that to return, they first had to free themselves from the control of the Tully, since they were part of the Tully kingdom because of Aegon the Conqueror, so, for now, they were doing what they asked for, which was to attack the Starks, which of course they were going to accept since the Starks were enemies of the Greyjoys, or they considered them enemies since the northern part of the sea represented the enemy of the drowned god.
The Iron Island was the mightiest naval force that ever existed, and Balon ordered the creation of 1,000 Longships, a rowing ship of relatively simple design, with a single square sail to make it more seaworthy on the open sea. It has only one row of oars per side, being mostly an open boat, without a deck, elongated and wide. It can carry about fifty men rowing, although it can carry more, depending on the size of the boat.
Longships are widely used by the Iron Men as pirates and warcraft and are often considered the best ships available, but this is only the case if a suitable captain and oarsmen are available.
The Iron Fleet of the Iron Islands consists almost exclusively of locally made Longships, commanded by captains, who are considered de facto kings within their vessels. They are often considered the most powerful vessels in the Seven Kingdoms, surpassing even the great warships of the Royal Fleet, and outclassing in capacity, maneuverability, and numbers the fleets of the Dominion, which they often plunder.
That made Balon confident that when he had those 1,000 Longships, victory, and independence for the Iron Islands were assured, and then they would go on to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, though presently there was something that struck him, the Northmen had created their naval force.
They sent out some research bodies, but they never came back, the spies they had at long range could not see anything as for some damned reason a mist was hiding the ships or whatever the Northmen were currently hiding. But he was not afraid of their ships, as they were many years behind the capacity they had at sea, but he was interested.
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Point Unknown.
Five Longships were sailing through the Sea of Dusk, they were about to reach Ice Bay, where historically the Iron Men had attacked, but something changed in the last two years, an extremely thick fog covered the bay as if it wished to hide something. It was as if the Storm God did not agree that the sons of the Drowned God should cross those waters again, but they were not going to be intimidated and suddenly the thick fog covered them and everyone kept a resounding silence.
All that could be heard was the sound of the ship as it sailed.
The mist complicated the men's sight, they could not see the other ships, and even if they were next to them, they could not see more than two meters because of the mist that complicated their sight.
And cannons began to sound, as well as the screams of the other boats, in less than five minutes silence reigned again, and out of the mist came a terrifying black boat, which brought with it the mist. That covered the ship again so that it disappeared again, leaving no trace of the ships that were sent by the Greyjoys to find out what was happening in the north, or if they could make some of their debts.
- "Good job useless cockroaches hahaha" - Was the shout of the ship's captain, who had nothing left to do, they left no survivors as the orders said, the tugs were already doing their job as the mist did not affect them, thanks to Maester Marwyn's gift in magic, although Barbossa and very few knew that the person pulling the strings was actually Harry Stark.
- "They weren't prominent opponents" - The red-haired giant killer stood next to his captain, and as he wiped the blood off his mallet, he could barely smash a dozen heads with it, so he was a bit disappointed - "You owe me 5 gold coins... I killed 5 more than your girl."
- "Fuck you... you stole 2 from me" - Artemisia looked accusingly at the red-haired man who only laughed at the murderous look on the red-haired woman's face, by a coincidence of life, he had thrown an axe at one of the people to be killed, and the other had his hand slashed open his chest, A black owl hovered on Barbossa's shoulder, and then took flight, and with the aid of a spyglass saw a red ship, very similar to the pearl - "The Revenge. ..."
- "Why is the Revenge around here... don't they share a port with the Dutchman" - Tormund said something very obvious, the Flying Dutchman and the Revenge shared the same port, which was Port Kart, so it was very rare for one of those ships to arrive here unless it had something to do - "What would Sparrow want, for these waters..."
- "Don't you remember, my Mother and Elia Martell went to Dorne... they left from Port Kart, and when they come back they will come through these waters.... not to be identified" - Artemisia looked at the two men as if they were idiots, that was the route Ashara and Elia used to go to visit their relatives in Dorne, and during all this time it certainly worked, the best of all was that the vendetta was not detected - "Idiots.... can't stop thinking about their rivalry for a second and think."
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Riverrun (Riverlands)
Riverrun, a triangular-shaped fortress, is strong, though not particularly large, and is situated at the point where the rivers Red Fork and Fallen Stone meet; the third side has a huge moat that can be attacked, turning the castle into an island and making it virtually impregnable.
The castle is built with sandstone walls that emerge from the water. Its battlements contain loopholes, and its towers overlook opposite shores.
The fortress of Riverrun lies inland. Properly garrisoned, Riverrun can hold provisions for men and horses for two years, though a garrison of two hundred men is more than Riverrun requires in most circumstances.
Riverrun is the ancestral stronghold of House Tully and has been under their rule for over a thousand years, a powerful house that supplied food to the three kingdoms near them, to the valley and the West, formerly to the North, before they found a way to supply themselves, something that provoked the anger of Hoster Tully, the current head of House Tully. For one simple reason, they were responsible for keeping the Northerners from having enough money for luxuries, since the Targaryens had banned the Northerners from planting their own food, which left the Northerners with enough money for taxes and to buy food for the winter, which left them penniless because of the high prices they paid.
Hoster Tully was not going to let the Northerners make a mockery of him, he was going to make them pay, and the best way was to give the Greyjoys a small liberty, letting them rob, kidnap, rape and kill the Northerners would surely affect the Northern economy a lot, not to a critical point, but to try to make some loans, where he would be able to take advantage.
It also didn't help that his daughter Catelyn, the only one of his three children who had potential, betrayed him by siding with the filthy fucking Northerners. That only made him angrier, first, he had a foolish daughter who refused to marry Jon Arryn in his time, to marry his eternal love Petyr Baelish. A fatal mistake, how the fuck did she let herself get pregnant by someone who was a nobody at the time, it was a real mistake that was going to cost her dearly, as her daughter was able to trick Jon into taking Petyr as a currency advisor, giving power to someone who you could tell was ambitious, Lysa didn't realize that Catelyn used a great excuse to take Petyr away from her. But her daughter Lysa was a complete idiot.
- "Damn, squids are good for nothing" - Hoster threw his wine glass against the wall as he finished reading the letter he received from the Greyjoys which they apologized for not being able to harm the North, it was these moments where Hoster showed his true nature when he was in his solitude - "I only asked them to do what they always wanted to do... and they do it wrong..." - No doubt he was angry, but he was also a cowardly person, he was never going to dare say that in front of an Ironborn - "How can I strike the North."
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King's Landing
Petyr Baelish looked at all the kings spending with a huge grin on his face, with their spending so high there was no doubt that in the coming months, he could raise that amount, and no one was going to say anything because both king and queen were spending without thinking.
Cersei on the most expensive wine in all of Westeros and Robert on whores and wine, so stealing gold from the crown was going to be very easy for him and no one was going to expect that, after all, he was going to have to do everything he could to keep those expenses down. Clearly, it was something that was never going to happen.
Luckily Robert was still obsessed with Lyanna Stark, for the first time the North was good for something in his mind, it was very good for him.
With the money he was taking away, he would be able to buy the brothels of the kingdom, he was already wondering the prices of said brothels, many were not expensive, others were. So to have as many brothels at his disposal, he looked for houses that could be sold that had the requirements to convert them into brothels, and he saw many at a very good price since many had nowhere to take food from after the war, Jon was not doing his job very well as he said, and many citizens complained and wanted to go to other places to start from scratch.
And at that moment he could make out Varys the master of whispers, someone extremely dangerous from his point of view because, by a coincidence of life, he knew what his plans were and gave him the places he could buy at a very good price. That meant danger in his mind, as an idiot would trust someone who can give information about a person, and get a lot of things, quietly he could tell Jon his true intentions, and all his plans would go to shit, but he kept quiet and just watched.
Varys rather looked at Petyr as a window, when he has enough money, the crown will be able to lend money from Petyr without owing money to any house in Westeros, which will anger the various lords of the houses because the crown will not lend money from them, but from a man who earns money from whores, it will hit the pride of the lords, and weaken the peace and a war will start, everyone will want the iron throne. And that would be taken advantage of by his true allies, and Westeros would finally be ruled by the true Dragonblood.
- "I admire your dedication, moving silently, watching the king and queen waste their gold, and you are there gathering the scraps" - Varys saw that Petyr only had a smile on his face, he didn't care about that for now, he understood that perfectly well, as in time the scraps would become something else.
- "Now scraps.... but those scraps as you call them, I see them as opportunities, an opportunity that can give me even the iron throne, without the need to create a war" - Littlefinger knew how to repel Varys' words, he didn't care if he gave his work the term scraps, for now, they were just that, but very soon, those scraps were going to give him the power to even move an army - "But I can give it another term... I am only investing... in a prosperous business that will even help the crown in a time of need."
And with that the conversation ended, Varys nodded and left the place, while Petyr went to Jon to tell him that his loans had arrived, but when the two turned their backs to each other.
They had that little feeling that at any moment they were going to be stabbed in the back, they both knew they were dangerous, Varys knew that Petyr was someone extremely dangerous, his strategies and his twisted way of thinking made him a deadly enemy. While Petyr only saw Varys as a dangerous enemy because he was the master of whispers if he could get his little birds out of the way, Varys was not a dangerous enemy, just an annoying one, but that was as far as it went.
But both were sure of one thing, the other was not a big problem for their plans and if they were a problem they could easily eliminate him, because who was going to say anything if the master of coin or the master of whispers died.
What they didn't notice was that a strange little animal was watching them, and it split in two to follow the two scorpions because that's what these two people were, scorpions waiting for the right moment to sting them.
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Winterfell (North)
Harry was reading the letter his fiancée sent him, you could tell she was someone clever who hid her true intentions, the way she wrote showed the ability she had to connect with a person without even meeting them face to face, that meant danger, as a person who came to trust her would-be quietly used, she was far worse than her grandmother, anyone would think Margaery was going to ask things about the north. But from the first point, she already made it clear that her current goal was to make Harry think that she was not at all interested in what was going on in the North at the moment, but that she was much more interested in meeting him in person, one point to note was that she wanted Harry to have his guard down when they met, as it would make him think that she had no interest in things in the North, completely hiding her main intention.
- "It would certainly be a lot of fun when you met her, you could tell she was someone clever and cunning, with just the writing you could spot the way a person was acting or even get close to them. Margaery was trying to get on your side, unlike Tywin who was practically trying to order you around."
- "You know brother, I'm looking forward to meeting your betrothed too" - Mya was feeding her little wolves which were brown, completely different from the four wolves Harry had, the four were different colors, one black, white, grey, and brown, they were sleeping quite unlike her own which were playful - "You can tell she's smart, that's why you read her letter again to answer her."
- "Margaery is far more dangerous than even Tywin Lannister, from the first moment she will try to fit in with the North, making them think she is just another Northerner" - Harry looked at his foster sister who stared at Harry, and with her look Mya was implying why Harry wanted such a dangerous betrothed, why not look for someone who is not dangerous, which Harry understood perfectly - "I know what Mya thinks... Artemisia asked herself the same question.... but I like danger."
- "Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer, is that it?" - Mya saw Harry's smile was a very simple one, implying that she understood, the Tyrells didn't have great military might, nor did they have many good commanders to make their forces put up a fight or resist an attack from another realm, but the Tyrells were a dangerous enemy in politics - "That's why you keep the Lannisters close and Olenna Martell's granddaughter as your betrothed."
- "A lion can be tamed and killed, a rose hides its thorns, you have to know how to cut them" - That was why Harry wasn't afraid of Tywin, his greatest enemy lived in his castle, and his own son was going to quietly assassinate him when the time came, and he could blame anyone, as the golden lion had several enemies all over Westeros, with Margaery he was going to keep her close enough to know if he could get her help on a political level, - "And his worst mistake would be to think I'm a sheep too." - Mya looked at her brother, always with something to say, that's why it was easy to take away a conversation with him because you asked something and he could answer you in a very uncommon way - "Roses bloomed, lions roared, seagulls sang, deer grazed, trout leaped, the sun shone and the wolf was silent."
Mya stared at her brother analyzing the words he said, Harry never said anything just to say, everything he said was for a reason, and everything he said was for a purpose, the Northerners just had to decipher it and follow him, or just follow him and see what surprise the young wolf as he was currently called was going to come out with.
Not counting the Boltons, no house would go against the Starks, the most important houses in the north all had Valyrian steel swords, and even his two uncles had one, giving a total of 15 Valyrian steel swords for the North. No one at the time thought that was possible, but Harry accomplished it.
The northern naval force was the most powerful at the time, and though they were still in hiding, it was not yet time for them to make themselves known so the natural defenses of Port Kart where the ships were built were essential.
The dead belonging to the Mormonts and the BlackStarks had a mist that, thanks to his brother's magic, did not affect those who crewed the ships, though that need not be known as Marwyn took all the praise as he was a maester who had studied magic, so he was much more credible.
But Mya is still watching Harry, anyone would follow him blindly, and with words alone, he could convince you.
- "When Winter comes, the roar of the great lion will not be heard, the darkness will cover the sun, the birds will stop singing, the deer will die, the trout will freeze and the roses will fade" - Harry went to the window where the little light of the day was coming in, It was a cloudy day as usual in the north, but it was not as cold as it always was, he was not going to change the northern sky, it made it look more beautiful in his eyes and commanded respect, that was what he thought after all - "But the wolf will no longer be silent.... and his howl will be heard."
Weekly Power Status
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