Chapitre 101: Toothless Lion
In the great hall every Lord that counted for something was present.
Brendan sat with his uncle Rickard on his left and Lady Maege on his right.
Next to them sat Jorah Mormont as the head of the house, Arthur Glenmore and Rickard Karstark with Greatjon Umber and Rodrik Forrester, Daryn Hornwood.
Davos Seaworth sat at the back with the rest of the second generation and less powerful Lords.
On the right of the group the Bolton's, Whitehill's, Cerwyn, Manderly, Glover, Flint etc.
The table just opposite of theirs welcomed the Vale Lords with Yohn Royce leading them.
Then came the Riverlands with Tully at the lead, of course no Frey came... yet.
The Westerlands table was the gloomiest where Tywin Lannister sat at the top with his men behind.
What was surprising was that the Reach Lords were led by the Queen of Thorns with her son sitting at her side.
She kept her gaze, but it still wondered to the Young Lord Dustin from time to time.
The Stormlands lords sat close to young Renly Baratheon, Stannis was sitting with Ned and Jon Arryn close to the King as they were Kings friend, Lord Hand and mentor and Master of Ships.
"Who the fuck can tell me what is going on!? We had the Ironborn where we want them and now even King's Landing was attacked and almost sacked! What the fuck were you all doing!?" King Robert smashed the wine cup in his hand to the flor. "Who is attacking my lands!?" The hall was still quiet as most of the Lords were too scared to say anything.
"Your grace if I may." Brendan stood up with effort and bowed his head.
"Lord Dustin." King Robert was surprised seeing the child not affected like the rest of his shitty Lords that could only flatter him or cower in fear.
Olenna, Ned, Tywin, Stannis and Arryn keenly observed the youth, most of them seeing him the for the first time.
Brendan sweated a lot feelings the pain in his back. He knew when he needed to be strong and when he could show his wounds.
With his hand supporting his weight at the table he slowly moved step by step under everyone's gazes.
"I'm sorry your grace for my unsightly demeanor, but that fucker Victarion packed a merciless punch." Brendan smiled uncomfortably acting out his part. The jab at the Ironborn in his words made most of the "sheep" Lords and even Robert chuckle.
"I heard what you and your men did from Ned, you can be sure that the crown will not forget your deeds." Robert laughed as he always had a soft spot for real warriors.
Brendan now stood in the middle of the great hall shaking on his legs.
*whistle* he whistled lightly and three wolves came in from the outside scaring the men that didn't see them yet.
Three pony size wolves surrounded their master allowing him to support his body on them while Laika lay down at his feet observing everyone around.
The White cloaks of King's Guards moved closer to Robert with their hands of their swords keenly watching the beasts.
"I hope you don't mind my friends your grace, standing without support can still be painful." Brendan looked around and saw the fear in most of the Lords eyes.
Even Tywin and Olenna weren't expecting something like this.
"Blood wolf, that's what the men call you. At least I can now understand why." King Robert watched the animals calmly, but the look he gave Ned said it all. He wasn't comfortable with the animals.
"Ha! You didn't see me fighting in your name yet your Grace. Then you will know the real meaning of the words. Something to do with me biting a chunk of Rodrik Greyjoy throat. Thought he would taste like seafood." Brendan licked his lips as Robert belly laughed loudly.
"I like you boy!" The King kept his eyes on the wolves.
"They are harmless your grace... most of the time..." Brendan smirked as Red started growling at Lannister and Loki at Bolton on both sides.
"Enough of that boy" his smile disappeared "hope you have something important to say, it's unwise to test my patience now."
"As my mother, Lady Barbrey, informed Lord Hand about the rebellion when we received the news from our agents about it, unfortunately to be ignored. We gathered more information as well." He dropped the revelation for everyone to hear.
Murmured voices filled the hall and even Robert was surprised.
"You mean to tell me you knew about the rebellion?" He threateningly said looking at the boy.
"Of course we did your Grace, organizing something like that should alarm everyone. We informed Lord Hand about this. That is as well the reason my mother was kidnapped while visiting our countryside villa." Brendan looked directly at the King.
"Jon!" Robert roared and looked at his hand, his temper flared up again.
"That's true my King, Lady Dustin did inform me about it, unfortunately I disregarded it as a hearsay news." Jon was a good man and he felt guilty.
"Why wasn't I informed about it?" Lord Lannister knocked his finger at the table, demanding answers trying to keep his voice calm and emotionless.
"Lord Lannister, right?" Brendan mocked ignorance making some of the Lords chuckle, including the Queen of Thorns. "I heard how "generous" you were to my mother, I wanted to express my gratitude to you... but it looks like with all the problems on your hands it's not the right time." Brendan's burning with hate gaze challenged the old lion.
Before Tywin could continue Robert intervened.
"The Crown will apologize to your mother for the mishap and reward her for her dedication, but now is not the time for games Lord Dustin, the whole kingdom is in flames and we need to counterattack!"
Brendan turned his gaze back to the King.
"It's simple your grace. Anyone thinking that it's a coincidence that we were attacked from the back just after gathering most of our forces here is an idiot. Your Master of Whispers should have the news as well, it is clear that Ironborn have allies around us." his words made the other lords take in a long breath. "We have the Iron scum to the west, who do you think is ruthless enough to attack Westeros not fearing the consequences to the east? Who has enough rug tug ships and men to lawlessly move on us at this time close distance to our lands?" Brendan looked around the King and his closest advisors.
"Stepstones..." Stannis mumbled.
"Exactly," Brendan pointed out "what I do not understand though is how did they managed to strike the North unseen by any other castles at the coast, Dragonstone should see such a large fleet and the winds wouldn't allow the pirates to move unseen." his words made all the lords think again.
"I can answer to that your grace." Loud voice of Lord Karstark filled the hall.
"Lord Karstark?" Ned asked.
"My Lord," bowing his head he moved closer to Brendan disregarding the wolves that he already knew and even somewhat liked. "I received a raven from my castle," he showed everyone the third parchment he had on him. "The killed men during the raid were wearing Skagosi under armor and accessories." he placed the parchment for the King to check.
"That would explain a lot, we saw ships from Skagos every other night close to our shores, they were probably scouting." Greatjon Umber unknowing played his part. He wasn't as smart as Lord Karstark so he didn't have any role to play.
"So what you mean is Ironborn, Stepstone pirates and Skagosi are in on it? How the fuck is this possible?!" Robert got red from the anger.
"It's not so difficult your Grace, they think your power is weak after the rebellion, add to that our weakened state and it is a perfect chance to strike, the pirates are like the Ironborn, and it's not the first time that Skagos rebelled." Jon Arryn thought it through and came to this decision.
"Weak?! Weak! I will show them who's weak when my hammer splits their brains!" He stood up and the drunkard from before vanished. "We will attack Ironborn first! And then take care of the rest!" Robert looked at the gathered with glimmer in his eyes.
Everyone could see the unyielding leader that was just as the man who led them to victory over Targaryen years back, his vigor and charisma once again filled every cell of his body.
"What about our lands your Grace? The enemy is destroying our farms, stealing the cattle without killing the people, it is clear what they want to do by destroying our food supplies. We can't just concentrate on the Ironborn." Lord Lannister stated coldly.
Looking at the man's dark circles below his eyes, the grey hair that started to overwhelm his beautiful golden color on his head were some of the indications of difficult times his centuries long family meet with.
King Robert did not take lightly someone questioning him and it didn't escape his Lord Hand eyes who intervened before the King exploded.
"Your Grace, maybe we should plan everything with your Wardens, this is a delicate situation we are in now after all." Jon Arryn was silently praying to the Seven for Robert to agree, the last thing he needed was unhappy, "powerful" House Lannister fighting with the King and by the Gods there already was no love between them.
Brendan watched the Warden of the Vale with a smirk on his face.
'Old man... If only you'd know...' he secretly glimpsed at the now almost toothless lion.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone