Chapter 35: -Chapter 31-
-298 AC-
-12th day of the 10th moon-
-Raventree Hall-
-3rd person POV-
In the courtyard of Raventree Hall, the seat of power of House Blackwood, a crowd was gathered to receive the new king of the seven kingdoms, Aegon Targaryen VI of his name stood atop his wolf that kept growing; now the young wolf had reached a size of over 3 meters and continued to grow without any sign of stopping.
At his feet was chained the lord of House Blackwood, who was accompanied by his entire family still in their nightclothes, staring blankly at all the corpses paving the ground, corpses of his advisers, soldiers, guards, and even some of his friends.
"Why?" was the only thing he could articulate, confused by the situation.
"Because you did not swear allegiance to me, you denied my right to the crown by putting me on the same level as usurpers, and you thought you were more important than you really are," he said.
"We did not take up arms against you."
"I gave you the opportunity to surrender."
"We chose to remain neutral; we could not deny the oaths we made."
"And I did not kill you," replied the king in the same cold and insensitive tone.
"Our House has always been very loyal. The Queen of your namesake was a Blackwood."
"Your House had a queen, and she has been dead for a long time, and even if she were still alive, I doubt she would approve of the House filled with traitors that House Blackwood has become. I will not dally with anyone; if you deny my right to the crown, you are my enemy, end of story," said the King before signaling his men to take Lord Blackwood and his family to the dungeons.
-MC POV-
In 10 days, I've captured all the castles between Raventree Hall and King's Landing, once the Tully vassal lords realized I was going to attack them, most of them decided to flee their fiefs with their armies and families.
The only Noble Houses that stayed in their fortresses were the Houses Blackwood, Whent, Darry, and Mooton; apart from the Blackwoods, all the others surrendered without fighting and bent the knee.
I don't know for what reason, is it because the Blackwoods descended from a Royal lineage? Were worshippers of the First Men like me? Or because these fools thought that since the King Aegon V's Queen was a Blackwood, I would do nothing to them, but these idiots decided to deny me their allegiance until I was the sole King.
It was an affront and a challenge, a clear contestation of my authority that was treated as such. I pretended to agree, withdrew all our troops tens of kilometers away, and once night fell, I sent Connor and a team of assassins to open the city gates.
Once the gates were opened in the middle of the night, no one was able to stop the tide of soldiers entering Raventree Hall.
Distractedly, I turned my head towards Tristan who had just finished setting up all the small skirmishes he had led everywhere between King's Landing and Pinkmaiden.
"So basically they fled to regroup and face us at Riverrun," I said once I reviewed all the options available to me.
They all nodded, so I said: "Well, then rest tonight, and we will leave first thing tomorrow."
Once I stepped out of the room, an eagle with a message landed near me, and I said while stroking the eagle into which Valeria had plunged: "So what do you have for me, Valeria?"
60,000 soldiers from the Vale army left the Bloody Gate heading towards Riverrun.
I smiled and then said to Jaime who followed me everywhere like my shadow: "We have won."
-298 AC-
-13th day of the 10th moon-
-POV Tywin Lannister-
I smiled seeing the young king on his wolf that became more monstrous every time I saw him and then I bowed; he waved his hand and said: "Lord Tywin, I was really very happy to learn of your rapid conquest of what remained of Tully territory."
"It's a normal thing, Your Majesty," I said, trying to flatter him.
I had learned how to talk to him, and I knew perfectly well that beneath that cold and austere facade that he surely learned by mimicking his uncle, this young man was incredibly proud and vain; he smiled and then said: "I have two bad pieces of news for you and one good one, which do you want to hear first?"
"Let's start with the bad ones," I said in a normal tone, mentally preparing myself for any possibilities.
"The North won't be able to leave Winterfell for two weeks," he said with a somber air.
He had a truly somber look and a deep anger that he was repressing, but unlike him, this news didn't bother me at all because I knew perfectly well that it would happen when the first letter justifying the delay in the gathering of the Northern army arrived.
The Lady of Winterfell was a Tully, and whether the young King believes it or not, his "brother" was one too, and he needed the alliance that Hoster Tully had set up to endure; it was logical, but I guess for him, it was a real shock.
"We didn't need them; they were superfluous in this campaign. 78,000 soldiers are more than enough to crush House Tully."
"Yes, you are right, but I would have appreciated their help to stop the army of 60,000 soldiers from the Vale coming straight at us."
Damn.
I swore internally and asked, irritated by the chances we had against such numerical inferiority: "What's the good news?"
"The good news is that they won't be able to hole up in a castle with more than 100,000 people, so..."
"They will fight us on open ground."
"Exactly, and that's where the difference between our armies will be felt."
"The Vale doesn't have a huge population; it's a mountainous region, and to gather so many men, they must have severely stretched themselves thin. It's also not a particularly rich region, which means their army won't be as well-equipped as ours, I remind you that all our soldiers are equipped from head to toe in STEEL of the highest quality and more importantly..."
"They are not as disciplined, nor as well-trained, it's just a mob of peasants armed with pikes and spears," I said, regaining confidence.
I observed the confident smile of this very young man, he was barely older than Joffrey, and even I could not deny that this kingdom would gain more by seeing Aegon VI on the throne rather than my pathetic grandson; the comparison wasn't even close, and understanding that was a slap.
He was smart, calm, manipulative, cruel, and he knew how to show good sense and enough cold blood to make me his ally, me who killed his grandfather, and me who ordered the eradication of all remaining members of this House.
I didn't like him, and to say that I respected him would also be a lie, but I found fewer and fewer negative points in serving him; for now, he held the role of king almost perfectly, and if he stays sane, he could even become the greatest king of this dynasty.
I cast a rare glance towards my son, and even though he wore no visible expression, something had changed in him; he had found some sort of backbone.
"Let's talk about the Battle Plan," I said, returning to our discussion
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