85 The long term plan
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POV of Doran Martell, fourth moon,284 AC(read with a strong Dornish accent)
It seems that fortune had deserted house nymerios martell, Dorne had suffered too much in this war, many of our young men perished fighting alongside the Targaryen prince in his last attempt to defeat the rebels
But the gods were not on the side of the Targaryens, the Prussians... mercenaries who came from nowhere to the seven kingdoms... they pulverized the Tyrells by taking their castles in a matter of days and then crushed their huge army in the forests of the Stormlands... the stories of the atrocities that were committed in those days are still coming in
Though I almost begged king Aerys to send my sister back home so she would be protected... the king distrusted our house... he thought we were preparing to betray him... the Martells the most loyal house to the iron throne
Luckily, Ellia managed to be evacuated with the rest of the royal family safely to dragon stone before the Prussians took the city and subsequently crushed the Royal Army with one of the largest cavalry charges in our history.
I did not think of surrendering, Dorne had been invaded many times by the full might of the iron throne before and I would make that a reality again... but everything changed with the arrival of the Teutonic knights.
At first, while we were setting up our defenses for the invasion coming from the north, we encountered that mighty enemy
Most of the knights usually arrive full of pride to fight against us, since we don't usually use so much armor and they consider themselves superior for having a better armor to defend them to finally collide fully against our greatest defense, the heat of Dorne.
For them, it was not a problem, they seemed to be well-experienced in desert fighting... our men learned it the hard way with hundreds of small skirmishes that occurred in the north
The Teutons showed their martial superiority, proving themselves to be great warriors and much better horsemen, beating our cavalrymen in large numbers on our own ground
Besides the Prussian presence on the torentine river everything seemed dark which forced me to sign the peace because at that time there were not many trained men and for some reason our men were being disabled in large numbers by problems with food.
I looked at my desk, which was littered with letters of complaint from the Dayne and other houses about the recent discovery.
It seems that house dayne for centuries had been living practically next to one of the largest gold mines to be found in these parts that rivaled the Lannister mines.
According to what they reported, there are thousands of people working extracting the precious ore, working every day... filling the coffers of the men who massacred our people and the surrounding lands will feed the same men in the future.
Not only did I accept that the most fertile territories of our domain were taken from us, where much of our supply of grains and fruits that the Dayne supplied to the whole territory came from, but now with the gold mine, it was probably the most valuable territory in Dorne that had fallen into the hands of our enemy who had already secured his prey by setting up defenses and mines
On our side of the river there is also gold, but it seems that not in as much quantity as on the other side, as the Dayne have tried to process the gold without much success only extracting a few kilos of gold... while on the other side of the river they process dozens of kilos every day
The doors to my room burst open as Oberyn walked in, quite furiously
''Doran how much longer are we going to stay idle...we must do something...we cannot allow the Prussians to continue enriching themselves from our lands'' Oberyn said with his face full of fury
''Oberyn...we already talked about that...we couldn't do anything else, if we kept resisting we would have collapsed under the iron fist of the Prussians, it was the best result we could get'' I said trying to calm my brother down.
''Just give me a few hundred men and I will burn down their mining operations, we can use the mountain terrain to hide and frequently attack any attempt to follow their mining operations ''Oberyn said placing his hands on my desk
''Oberyn... it is no longer possible... the Prussians control every possible place to cross the river and have many men watching for us to try anything and the fortresses guarding the passes could prevent you from returning... have you forgotten what happened to the Dayne when they tried?'', I said in a calm tone.
Oberyn only frowned, and every now and then he showed his teeth.
''Especially the problems we had with the wolf heads... if you didn't hear we had many infiltrations in our camps and they filled our men's meals with powerful laxatives, which allowed the Prussians to take so many prisoners... we must prepare for that not to happen again... the Teutons crushed us easily and with the help of their men within our ranks for them, it was child's play'' I continued trying to calm Oberyn down.
''Nice words, brother... but look at this and tell me if you can keep calm because I can't'' said Oberyn handing me an open letter
''It's from Ellia... why didn't you hand it to me when it arrived..... did you even open it?'', I asked Oberyn.
"Read it... now''said Oberyn furious
Ellia brings us up to date on what is going on in bravos... they got a safe place with some of the wealthy merchants in the area... and they have noted the presence of the Prussian white wolf-heads in the city
'From the information given to us by the prisoners who returned after being released, the Prussian men wearing white wolf-heads means that they belong to an elite group or officers..., as those men gave orders to the Teutonic knights and they obeyed without complaint'
I looked astonished at Oberyn
''The Prussians sent assassins against Ellia!... now tell me we must keep waiting... waiting before Ellia's next letter is that they killed her and her children'' said Oberyn tightening his grip on the table.
''Oberyn we cannot be sure if their intentions are to assassinate Ellia, if we restart the conflict now we will probably achieve nothing more than that these men are truly assassins to finally end what the Baratheons started..... we must wait... we must heal... we suffered too much... it will take years, but we must prepare for the conflict ahead'' I spoke with complete sincerity so that Oberyn could understand.
''But what if they are... if they are assassins and kill OUR sister Doran... now we can do something... we can protect her why not bring her here... in Dorne no one will try to lay a finger on her everyone loves her''Oberyn said with a look of disappointment.
''Oberyn... as much as I wish I could protect Ellia and her children... you know very well, they are my blood and I would do everything within my power to do so... but this is not it... unfortunately, we had trouble with the wolf-heads because they managed to impersonate soldiers and officers with incredible perfection... some of the knights they captured were completely amazed that they could mimic our accent as if all their lives they had been in Dorne''
''If we bring her here and they discover her... we will have those men among our ranks again... and since we didn't catch any of them with we don't know how they work, how they plan... we have to prepare ourselves...'' I said while running my hands over my face
''Then we must... wait... the Prussians are extracting tons of gold from the damned river... there are rumors that they expect the most abundant harvest in centuries... Doran, in centuries.... they build cities where the small folks are protected and every moon they will pay them their taxes filling their coffers and if necessary they will fill their armies, as time goes by they will have more and more soldiers what can we do if the Prussians again support the Baratheon and we truly face the Prussians with the support of the other kingdoms'' said Oberyn as he moved around the room.
''This is where the time comes in, brother.... Robert has proven not to be a good king, he is spending too much of his gold... which was given to him by the Lannisters and lent by the Prussians, Robert just spends, he parties every week, to please the court in the capital... soon he will have to look for more loans and probably the Prussian bank which is quite young will not be able to grant them and most likely the Lannisters won't either who will they turn to?'', I said while smiling
''To the iron bank'' said Oberyn looking back at me.
''Exactly Oberyn... it will take years maybe decades... but if we wait long enough... Robert will get so deep in debt that he won't be able to pay the interests on what he owes, and the iron bank will support a pretender... and it just so happens that in bravos there are three royal pretenders who can choose to pay the debt... which will give us the possibility of having the support of the most powerful bank in the world... with that support we will be able to hire an army of mercenaries to support us'' I said smiling.
''We will get supporters among the other houses...not all of them are loyal to the Baratheons we will be able to find those who will support us and well, if Robert keeps behaving as he is doing it won't be difficult for his former supporters to change sides for a better king'' I said leaning back in my chair.
''A good plan typical of you brother, but the problem is the same...the Hohenzollern...if they remain loyal and if your plan truly takes years even decades that would prevent us from facing the immense army of the Prussians again now they are weak because they are returning to civilian life, but the Prussian culture is a martial culture even much more so than the lords of the Stormlands. ... not to mention that they supported the Baratheon in all the major battles... the Targaryens may not want to work with them,'' Oberyn said, sitting down at my table.
''If we want to restore the Targaryen to their rightful throne, we must make concessions and if we can avoid bloodshed, simply by giving a royal pardon to the Hohenzollern, it is best... we will have to convince the pretender that it is best to avoid making his return too bloody'' I said smiling
''And if they refuse'' said Oberyn with a serious face
''It will be a long war...bloody...perhaps millions will die...but it is likely by that time the Baratheons will be left alone and lose many allies if we play our cards correctly..... Jon Arryn is old and is the only support he has in the vale, the Starks...it is known that Robert and Eddard are at odds because of something that happened between them...without the Arryn and the Starks the Tully will do nothing, only leaving the Lannisters and Baratheon, the winning side is obvious, but if the Hohenzollern stay loyal probably the numbers would be very even and only the gods could decide what would happen next''I answered Oberyn's doubt.
''The young leader of the Prussians has proven to be smart and cautious... he does whatever it takes for victory like what happened in the Stormlands... maybe we could try to meet him...'' I said while looking at the ceiling of my chamber
''Wow... then you might be interested to know that I burned a letter from Lord Arryn about an invitation to a feast to be attended by many of the most important nobles of the realm to celebrate a victory against goat-tending peasants in the Arryn mountains'' Oberyn said without giving it much thought
''Oberyn!... ah... well, I suppose we could attend... to meet the Prussian boy and see if he is open to the idea of changing sides... as well if the return of the Dayne lands is possible... although I don't think it is possible''I said looking at Oberyn was trying not to see my face
''Well... why not... I could try to kill Robert if he decides to enter the tournament'' said Oberyn smiling.
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