章節 130: Chapter 130 - Artican Trade in Westeros 57 (Letters.).
[Chapter Size: 3100 Words.]
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Pessoa Thrid POV
Westeros, 295 AC.
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The days were passing, and a raven arrived at Casterly Rock, while Tywin Lannister had already learned what happened to his eldest son in the Reach a few days ago.
The maester quickly grabbed that strange raven, coming directly from the Artican ships, and furrowed his brow as he read it. He immediately started moving swiftly through the corridors towards his lord's solar.
"What do you want, Maester? Lord Lannister is in an important meeting at the moment," one of the door guards quickly stopped him.
"It's urgent news, a letter written directly from your son!" the maester announced as the men looked at each other, finally nodding, and knocked on the door.
Tywin Lannister was not having an easy time, although he did not know what had happened in Oldtown, due to Jon eliminating all communications for a less complicated negotiation, he still received the news that his son had followed Jon Artica and ended up as a hostage while they were at sea at that moment.
He read the news with an indifferent face, but his eyes were trembling, anger, frustration, and even fear ran among the lord of Casterly Rock, not that he showed it, always keeping a serious face, but he had to act in some way.
His first call was for his brother to come here from Lannisport, discussing anything they could do.
"This was not wise at all... Sending a royal guard to arrest a man who has a fleet at sea..." Kevan Lannister commented with a grim look.
"Yes... that fool sent Jaime on a suicide mission... what did he expect to achieve with that?" Tywin said in the same grim tone, as his mind worked quickly to get his son out of this situation.
"They will certainly have to negotiate..." Kevan murmured.
"..." Tywin said nothing, but was waiting for the letter to arrive, after all, there was no reason for these Articans to keep Jaime in custody forever.
Kevan sighed and looked at his older brother cautiously. "I heard what they did to the royal guard, Ser Boros... do you think..." He commented quietly.
"My son will not be touched!" Tywin immediately dismissed that possibility with a small outburst, while Kevan just nodded, not wanting to enrage his brother at such a sensitive point, it was no secret to anyone how Tywin saw Jaime as his successor to Casterly Rock, even though he was a royal guard with a vow.
"He will be fine. There's no reason to hurt him beyond the king's foolishness..." Kevan commented.
"Yes..." He commented, and the next moment, there were some knocks at the door and Tywin and Kevan looked in that direction. "Enter..." Tywin said, hoping it was something worthwhile, otherwise...
"My lord..." The guard opened the door. "The maester is saying that he received a letter from your son..." He spoke and Tywin raised an eyebrow.
"Let him in." He immediately requested as the man entered the room.
"My lord..." the maester murmured calmly.
"Just leave the letter and get out." Tywin ordered in a dry tone, and the man did exactly that as he closed the door, leaving just him and his brother alone again.
Tywin wasted no time as he picked up the letter and began to read. Kevin watched his brother reading for a while until he finally finished reading, before handing the letter to his brother, showing no expression.
Kevan took it and began to read. He finished and returned to his brother after reading a second sheet attached to the letter written by Jaime. "So he wants iron and steel..." He murmured.
"It seems so... Gold does not seem to be so attractive to these Articans, since they seem to spend without worrying in Dorne and Reach..." Tywin commented.
"What shall we do?" Kevan asked.
"We will do exactly that. I want you to buy everything and take from our stock what they ask for... We will wait for them to arrive in Lannisport soon." Tywin spoke. He would spare no expense in saving his heir.
"At least he is well... Do you plan to do something with them?" Kevan asked, wanting to know what his plans are. Knowing him, he would not let this humiliation of the Lannister name go cheaply.
"They've paid for it, I have a plan to deal with them. It's a shame we can't have their products, but no one in Westeros will have them either after this, and I'll make sure of it if the Tyrells and the Martells still want to negotiate," he spoke with a dangerous tone.
"..." Kevan just nodded, leaving it to his brother.
"I want you to go back to Lannisport and wait for any sign from the fleet at sea," he began. "Tyrion is still organizing the city's sewers, right? Make that thing do something more useful as soon as it's done," he spoke.
"Yes, brother..." Kevan spoke, although he didn't sympathize with how his brother treated his own son, since he, Genna, and the missing Gerion, liked Tyrion and treated him like family.
Thus, Kevan returned with a group of guards towards Lannisport, meanwhile, to the east, in King's Landing, the raven with even darker news arrived at the Red Keep, with a young maester's assistant picking up the raven and noticing that one of the letters was open, he read it out of curiosity and was startled when he saw a plea for help from Oldtown with a letter sealed with the symbol of Artica on it.
He quickly began to traverse the corridors, heading to a room with royal guards at the entrance. This was the council room, having a discussion at that moment that the king himself had to attend.
"My brother is with those savages!!!" Queen Cersei exclaimed.
"Do you expect the whole kingdom to just go out and rescue your brother, woman?!" Robert exclaimed.
Most of the councilors were just observing the situation without getting too involved.
"It's the Tyrells' fault, they should have helped!" Cersei continued to blame others to demand help.
"Your brother left the castle in a hurry, they didn't even have time to do anything," Robert, despite not liking that family who fought alongside the dragons many years ago, was still rational about it.
"But Ser Boros!!! He became an ally thanks to that savage!" she exclaimed.
"Your Majesty... I believe she's right, they hurt a royal guard to the point where he can't even see with one eye..." Baelish commented carefully this time.
"I know... this is an affront against the Iron Throne and the Articans will have orders to be arrested as soon as they touch lands of the Seven Kingdoms... but we can't call the kingdoms to war because two royal guards were victims of them," Jon Arryn spoke this time.
"My brother is with these savages, he is the queen's brother, that alone is reason enough!!" She exclaimed frustrated.
"Your father has to do something, annoying woman," Robert said angrily.
"I don't know how Jaime Lannister is... but this group doesn't seem to attack irrationally, Ser Boros fell from grace due to his actions and unfortunate words... Jaime attacked alone in an attempt to capture Jon Artica... I believe he will negotiate, after all, we know he has plans to visit the West..." Stannis commented calmly.
"Do you know where they are now, eunuch?" Robert turned to Varys who had been silent after passing the latest information.
"I haven't received any chirps from my little birds yet... the only thing I know is that they planned to go to Oldtown, before heading up to the West," he commented.
"Send a letter to Oldtown, demand their immediate capture!!" Cersei exclaimed.
"Yes... The archmaesters will know how to deal with those savages..." Pycelle said, unaware of how behind he was and that the archmaesters were all dead at that moment.
Robert found this reasonable and was about to agree, but suddenly the door was banged on. "What is this now?" he growled as Ser Barristan Selmy approached the door opening it.
"Lord Commander..." the royal guard began. "This assistant to Maester Pycelle said he has urgent news from Oldtown, the city has been attacked," he spoke, and Barristan raised an eyebrow.
"Let me see the letter," he requested and the young man nervously approached handing not one, but two letters to the commander of the guard.
The door was closed the next moment and Barristan approached the council table alone with the letters.
"Is this true?!" Jon Arryn exclaimed as everyone looked on in surprise after hearing what the royal guard had said.
"There are two letters here, one open, from the house of Hightower and another sealed with the Artican symbol," he said, placing the letters on the table while everyone looked on curiously.
"Why do we have letters from Oldtown, while our master spy has no information about this?" Baelish commented while Varys furrowed his brow, he had received nothing from Oldtown and was somewhat worried about this.
"It doesn't matter now... Let's see this letter..." The Hand of the King picked up the open letter and unfolded it in front of everyone.
"This..." He looked shocked, as he swallowed dryly and began to read the letter.
"From Rick Hightower, the current protector of Oldtown in the absence of my brother.
Urgent,
Oldtown is under a devastating attack at this moment. We were deceived when we welcomed the Articans with their wild king into our city, they initiated an inside attack and massacred countless archmaesters, Septons, and the current High Septon who was in the city, was brutally killed by the same.
A group of Articans breached the north gate, causing great destruction with wildfire! They destroyed the walls and are invading the city, at the port 2,000 men are trying to capture 10 Artican ships, but at sea, another 90 are approaching the city to invade it... The citadel is surrounded and the local resistance is being rapidly decimated. The situation is critical and requires immediate assistance.
So far, our efforts to contain the Artican advance have been in vain. The population is in panic and our defenses are collapsing. Jon Artica has demonstrated sorcerer powers as rumored, controlling animals to attack our soldiers, creating a scenario of unimaginable terror.
I urgently request the deployment of military reinforcements to assist in the defense of Oldtown and the protection of its citizens. We do not know how long we will hold out, but the city will fall shortly. The presence of all possible troops from this kingdom is vital to repel this attack and restore order. I also ask that you inform the other lords and nobles about the severity of the situation, so that all may prepare for the threat Jon Artica represents.
We await your swift response and support in our time of need."
Jon Arryn finished the letter while the entire room entered into a silence with wide eyes, wondering if what they heard was true.
"This..." Pycelle trembled. "They killed the archmaesters and the High Septon along with other elders of the faith?!" He could not believe it.
"..." Baelish, who had been planning to pit the Articans against the seven kingdoms, was stunned to know that they had actually attacked a city and massacred important people.
"This cannot be ignored, one of the great cities of Westeros, is being attacked..."
"Has been attacked, you mean... This raven must have taken days to get here and from what I see it was intended for the Tyrells in Highgarden, but somehow, it was intercepted," Varys commented calmly.
"I knew we couldn't trust these savages!" Cersei exclaimed frustrated.
"I agree with the queen... this is an affront to our faith and against the crown, they launched an attack and must be looting one of our cities at this moment..." Jon Arryn commented.
"..." Robert had a serious face this time, as he tapped the table with a finger tapping on it and thinking. He turned to Jon. "Open the other letter... I want to see the outcome of this attack."
Jon Arryn nodded while breaking the seal with the Artican symbol and opening the letter written by the King of Artica himself.
"To the King of Westeros,
I was known as Jon Snow, and now I call myself King of Artica, Jon Artica, and I am here at the citadel after taking control of the city following threats and orders for Oldtown's soldiers to kill my men. We were threatened because the maesters wanted to demand absurd things such as Artica submitting to the control of people beneath the riffraff.
They wanted to take a body of my giants, dwarves, our armor, and swords. The septons called us savage heretics and wanted us to deny our faith, saying we had no support or money in the north and that we would need them to continue our business to the southern kingdoms. They even wanted to deny my son, so that I would have a southern heir and name my two children, from different mothers, who would become bastards.
That was the last straw, as soon as they gave the order to capture us. Then, I began to kill everyone in the room without mercy, whether maesters or septons. I cut down all those greedy damned who dared threaten my homeland, my people, my wife and son. Afterward, I began killing all the soldiers who faced us in the city.
My response to all the dealings I've had in the last moon, is a fuck you to you all, I no longer care to negotiate with you, after all, since I came to the south, I am filled with schemes and greedy people trying to profit from my deals.
I dominated the city except for the eastern side, after all, my goal was the citadel and Hightower, and I am finally leaving it. I am wounded, King Robert, emotionally wounded. For the harm done to me and my Artica, I am taking over 600,000 books from the citadel with their treasures as compensation for moral damages. I came to negotiate books, but unfortunately, we leave with traumas that my poor people will suffer and carry for the rest of their lives after this visit.
If you are angry and want some reclamation of this justice done amidst the injustice that was committed against us, I SINCERELY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR OPINION. Artica will be open to wars and I invite you to come to the north if you want to fight." He finished reading the entire letter, leaving the room in silence for a while.
'This is insane and illogical!' Everyone thought at the same time.
Many there furrowed their brows even more after the news of the attack on the citadel. Jon Artica was openly declaring war with Artica at that moment.
"What Ned's son has done...!" Jon Arryn murmured.
"This is certainly horrible... He looted the citadel and killed many important people..." Varys commented.
"My king... I ask you to summon all the realms! This can no longer be delayed..." Pycelle exclaimed in horror.
Robert was still recovering after what he heard in that letter. He turned back to everyone waiting for a decision and nodded firmly. "Stannis, I want ships blocking the sea next to Dragonstone. I'm going to grab my hammer, I want to see if the boy has the guts even in front of me!" Robert exclaimed.
"We need to summon our subjects!!" Cersei exclaimed with a nervous tone now.
"Yes. Let's do that, but it will take a long time if he's heading north at this moment..." Jon Arryn spoke.
"They also have wildfire... we should be careful at sea..." Barristan commented, although he did not know that Jon had a good use for them in harpoons.
"Another thing... Rickard Hightower said he can control animals... who's to say he isn't spying on us right now?" Varys finally had his chance to raise that issue, one that consumed him in the last moon every day.
"That..." Everyone frowned at that, starting to believe the stories and rumors about Jon Artica.
"It doesn't matter now, just eliminate any animal from the Red Keep and prepare to face them, summon all the gates to call ships to block the fleet, we will eliminate those 150 ships!" Robert shouted as he prepared for battle.
"Yes... I will send a summoning letter to all the houses of Westeros..." Jon Arryn spoke, they might take time for that, but if they needed to summon all the armies of the seven kingdoms, they would do so.
"There's something written on the back of the letter..." Barristan noticed something on the letter next to Jon Arryn, while he also saw it turning the letter over.
"What's written there Jon?" Robert asked immediately.
"..." Jon seemed a bit cautious until he began to speak loudly. "You think I don't know about the schemes you were plotting against me..." He started. "I know very well that Baelish made contact with the lord of Seagull Town preparing to simulate an attack by our ships, but I did exactly what they wanted and did not expect at the same time, decimating them all," he said while Baelish looked like he saw a ghost as everyone stared at him. "I know about your fancy for women who look like Lady Stark... that's really disgusting." Jon Arryn read, frowning.
"The same could be said of the queen..." He continued. "I know you asked pirates to attack my ships with my wife heading north, through a royal guard. I know your secrets and you really know how to deceive your king," he read, making Cersei even paler than Baelish with that revelation.
"What is he talking about, that's a lie!!!" She immediately exclaimed. While everyone looked at her a bit surprised, Robert frowned as he stared at her, trying to understand what the letter meant by that.
Jon sighed before reading the last words of the letter. "So I will not forget you... and when I find you, I will kill you." He finished the letter with everyone just looking, not knowing what to think about it.
Back to the west, as the days passed, the waters in front of Lannisport were finally seen with a huge fleet of 150 ships heading in that direction, while Jaime looked off the side of the ship.
"Soon you will go to your home, I hear your father shits gold, did he make your hair too?" Jaime had to listen to a dwarf mock him, while even if he wanted to retaliate, he had been beaten in sparring in the last few days on this ship, hoping to finally get away from those crazy people.
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