บท 56: Great War
"So, so, how did you stop her?" Shireen asked excitedly, bobbing her little head up and down. The child was how I expected one her age to behave... unfortunately, her mother didn't agree with me and so Shireen was sad and quiet most of the time.
Selyse Florent, the Queen, had made it so. Selyse was... she was like a mean old gremlin that was six and a half feet tall.
She was thin, gaunt even, incredibly tall, stood crooked, and had the meanest mug I'd seen in this world. She was haughty, and cold... but even she loved her daughter. On more than one occasion, I had seen her hide and watch over her daughter, or chew out some servant who dared to mention her illness in a tone she didn't agree with.
It made Marika all the more stranger.
"Karl. Karl!"
"Yes, yes, princess."
Shireen pouted, crossing her arms. "You weren't paying attention."
"Oh, you'll have to forgive me," I smiled, uncrossing my legs and leaning on the table between us. "I was remembering a friend."
"So, how did you beat Malenia then?"
I rested my chin in my palm. "I didn't want to. She even killed me a few times. Scarlet Rot is a bit-... er, it hurts a lot."
Despite us being at odds, I had seen her grow up. I had taught her much of what I knew about waging war and dealing in death and ruination. How could I ever truly strike her down with my own two hands?
"Then, what happened?"
"I managed to lead her to the seaside," I sipped on my win-... apple juice. "Then I managed to blow a hole into the ground so big, the sea flooded it. She was forced to back away and I left."
"So you lost?"
I chuckled dryly. "I guess you could say that. But it was never my intention to win."
"Sounds like something a sore loser would say," Shireen said without an ounce of mercy, dealing a great blow without so much as lifting a finger.
She opened her mouth to speak further but the door opened first, and she bowed her head, "G-Greetings, father."
Stannis acknowledged his daughter with a stoic nod, then turned to me, "What do you make of this?"
He held out a small piece of parchment he'd been clenching in his fist. Curious, I took it and looked it over.
"Now that's just funny," I whistled.
It was a letter from Oldtown, 'urging' him to stop the war. But, they had to know it was completely pointless. Or were they so preposterously confident in their influence that they thought they could stop war?
Sure, there was a maester in every castle on the continent but... A good number of them were more loyal to their lieges, like Maester Luwin from Winterfell and Cressen from Storm's End.
"Maybe I should pay these folk a visit sometime."
Technological stagnation was perhaps the biggest factor affecting this world and its many societies. With science and discovery, came progress in all fields, improvement in all parts of life. Hoarding it all to oneself was a sure-fire way to maintain power, but also an exceedingly unfair thing to do... Sure, they didn't owe anyone anything, but that also meant they had no right to cull others to maintain that power.
"Perhaps," Stannis agreed. He then frowned and produced a second parchment from his plain tunic, holding out to me. "Read this."
"From?"
The Lord of the Seven Kingdom frowned further, gritting his teeth. It was quite amusing and so I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my lips. He believed it an insult to a man of his station to have to explain things... but he knew full well that he was out of his depth and had to anyway.
"The Night's Watch, from the Wall in the North," He said finally, "It speaks of the Others, and the walking dead. The brotherhood claims to have crossed steel with their kind already. There is word of a great army of Wildlings attempting to pass the wall by siege. He has sent ravens to all Great Houses."
The Wildlings. Savages, as I recalled from my reading, but then most cultures labelled all others as savage so I had no personal opinion of them other than I didn't agree with some of their methods.
I crossed one leg over the other, running a finger along the edge of the paper, and gave Shireen a wink, "I didn't think you'd believe them."
It was written all over his chafed face that he was planning on answering the call.
"I do not delude myself into denying what is truth for an easier night." He held out his hand for the parchment and I handed it back, seeing as he'd just about relayed all information anyway. "If this reads true, the realm is in danger. It is my duty as it's King to fight for it."
"It says a hundred thousand men," I looked up at his dark eyes.
"It could tell of a hundred thousand more," He declared.
Well, he was an admirable man if nothing else.
He could join up with the rest of his forces on the way bac-
"Oh, you planned on going regardless of the letter," I let out a small laugh.
Stannis didn't answer. He turned and left the room, but not before casting one final glance at his daughter.
It made me smile.
"You could tell her you care, you know?" I called out, rising to my feet and waving goodbye to the Baratheon princess. "Actually, you need to."
He grunted, "She knows."
"She doesn't, man. You need to say those kinds of things."
The stoic King grunted again and quickened his pace. His heavy steps echoed in the desolate corridor, followed by distant roars of thunder.
"I see. Will you sail with us?"
I pulled my diary from my satchel, and flipped over to the map of the continent, "Depends. Which way are you gonna go?"
"A raven flies for Harrenhal. The Northmen left behind will join us." Noting my silence, he continued. "Some twenty thousand swords. I will take as many as I can. We make for Eastwatch By-The-Sea."
Now, that was a name I was unfamiliar with. The original map I'd been using had more attention put into covering as much as possible. I'd filled out the details as I'd travelled but so far I only had the North down past Winterfell, the Riverlands, the Crownlands and the Stormlands to work with.
I had ventured into the Vale during my stay at Stone Hedge, but it was mostly empty mountains, with the population centred around valleys with farmland and whatnot, so it didn't have much to offer beside breath-taking sights I'd burnt into memory.
"Alright," I nodded. "I'll go with you."
Any would be hard-pressed to find something more entertaining than a battle between a hundred thousand or so wildlings and knights with less than half their number over a 700 foot wall made of pure ice that apparently dragons had refused to cross.
Admittedly, I was looking forward to it.
Many would die... but it was war.
All combatants would try to kill each other to establish their ideology over the other, very different from peasants who had their homes pillaged and raped by soldiers.
-
I almost changed my mind about joining the fleet when I realised there would be at least a hundred men on every ship if he intended to take even half of his forces along with him. I quickly realised that most of these men would be rowing under the deck. Then, I noticed that they were loading horses onto the ships.
"Well now that's not going to be pleasant." I remarked, sitting on a hill that overlooked the bay where hundreds of men marched onto great galleys under the crisp shouts of sergeants and what not.
Many among them wore mail over boiled leather, chest plates, greaves and gauntlets. I saw young boys who had never seen war, eager and excited, afraid and trembling. I saw old hardy men, scarred and weathered, tired but accepting of their fates, the necessity of their cause.
Stannis' army utilised an abnormal number of pikemen and thousands of cavalry decked in grey plate, a burning stag emblazoned on their chests. But then again, cavalry in plate could very well end battles with a single charge.
All the Seven Kingdoms seemed to possess their own unique form of warfare.
"It won't be. The King refuses to let you nobility have separate ships."
"Hm," I cast a glance sideways and saw a handsome, fair-skinned youth with a shock of silver hair running down to lean shoulders and pale green eyes, "What about himself?"
"Strange thing. He plans on rowing with the men." He looked like he wanted to sit down, but didn't want to dirty that expensive olive doublet and brown vest of his. "A strange King."
"Wouldn't you say a good one?"
He put a hand to his chin, "I feel a King needs more pride than to row. But eh, what would I know? Aurane. Aurane Waters. I'll be commanding some part of that fleet."
"Waters?" I raised a brow.
"A bastard of Driftmark, aye," He nodded, gesturing to a man standing several metres downhill. "That one's half-brother."
Monford Velaryon, if memory served.
I held out a hand, "Nice meeting you, Aurane. Karl."
He hesitated for a moment, then took it and gave it a firm shake.
"Likewise."
"Be sure you don't run us into some rocks, eh?"
"I wouldn't dream of it."
I shrugged and rose to my feet, dusting my trousers. Then, I made way to the side just enough that I wouldn't bother anyone before whistling loudly.
"Roach. I'm going to leave you here."
Contrary to what the Dragon Cult often professed, Blessings could most certainly be taken back once granted. They also had a limit to how long they lasted depending on the one that gave them. A fact many of the Dragon Knights only learnt after I devoured their benefactors, earning the ire of Godwyn the Golden, the demigod son of Marika and Lord Godfrey, and friend to dragonkind.
I knew my call was answered when smoke and dust rose in the distance and birds of prey took to the skies as if to escape some great catastrophe.
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Hope you enjoyed.
You can find 10 chaps ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap
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Guys, the plot I have outlined for this novel is around 160, 180k words max. The total written till now is north of 130k already. Damn did some chapters get out of hand in length.
On the flip side, here's a hint.
I've bought 'Sengoku Period. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu: Three Unifiers of Japan' by Danny Chaplin as research material for my next work.
The other hint is posted in the chapter comments.
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