25 Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The victory of the Pretenders on the Grey Gallows was the first major loss suffered by the Royal Army. With their cavalry destroyed, and the opposing cavalry laying havoc on their ranks, the vice commander, Benjen Stark ordered a full retreat. The army would pull back to their ships and abandon the islands.

Many say that the call for retreat was unnecessary and that the army could have fought on. And while that may be right, the early and organized retreat would give the army a chance to fight on instead of becoming a wasted and spent force.

Despite the positives, the retreat was a major blow, especially with the Commander of the Army, Lord Robert Baratheon getting poisoned during the battle, for the sword used by Daemon Blackfyre had been coated with poison.

The King would hear about the loss, and would sit down with his councilors to make a new plan. However, it must be stated that the victory did little to shift the tides of the war. The Blackfyres were in quite a pickle. They were surrounded on all sides by the Targaryen forces and could only ever truly move forward, and that is what they would do. And this time they would be facing King Rhaegar himself who would show the world, the true might of the Targaryen forces.

0000

RHAEGAR TARGARYEN

The King of the Seven Kingdoms sat in his chambers atop the flagship galley of the Royal Fleet, his fingers thrumming on the ironwood table as he read through the report on the battle that had taken place on Grey Gallows, taking into account all he could as he tried to visualize exactly what had happened.

Opposite to him sat Jamie Lannister and his oldest friend Arthur, both of them quiet as they waited for him to finish reading. By this time, the whole fleet was aware of the battle of Grey Gallows and its unfortunate end.

They had lost. Robert had been injured, and their cavalry had been decimated by wildfire, and though their losses other than that weren't astronomical they had still lost ground to the Blackfyres and had lost the only major foothold they had possessed. This gave the Blackfyres the advantage of controlling both Bloodstone and Greygallows hence taking away the two largest islands away from their control, giving their army no landing area.

"This is not ideal, but I believe the situation is still under control," began Rhaegar as he put down the letter. And he was being truthful, their losses apart from the cavalry weren't too major and their retreat had been fairly organized.

"Yes, you are right. But I still believe Benjen's call for retreat was premature, the army could have fought on. We could have at least bled the Golden Company, yet he called for the retreat too prematurely," cut in Arthur, and while that would have been ideal. Benjen's early call for retreat had its own merits.

"Perhaps, but it was Ser Benjen's quick thinking that allowed the healers to recognize the poison in Lord Robert's wound. Had the fighting carried on we would be mourning the loss of a Lord Paramount, plus with the army intact we could use those forces in the upcoming battle," cut in Jamie Lannister.

And hadn't that been the biggest boon to the early retreat? Robert had faced Daemon Blackfyre in open combat, and from the reports, their battle had been a sight to behold. Yet the coward had laced his sword with poison. Thankfully, the healers had been quick enough to see the signs of poisoning and had treated Robert quickly for the poison, and though he was still not out of danger, the healers were hopeful about his condition.

"I believe discussing what has already happened is futile, we are gathered here to decide what are we to do next," spoke Rhaegar as he stood up and unfurled the map, as both Arthur and Ser Jamie joined him and began to place the mini statues representing their and their enemies forces.

"They now control Bloodstone and the Grey Gallows, taking away both of the islands that could allow us to land our armies," began Arthur as he placed the Black dragon on the two major islands of the Stepstones.

"Yes, but we received reports earlier from Lord Randyll earlier that he has Tyrosh under complete control, so that means that their supply lines are compromised," cut in Jamie as he placed the red dragon on the island of Tyrosh.

Rhaegar placed the dragon on the map at their own approximate position and then leaned back and began to make an assessment. It was safe to say that the Blackfyres now controlled nearly all of Stepstones, at least the main central portion of it.

But they had them surrounded. The Balcfyres essentially had only one way of winning and that was to push forward, and if that was the only way for them they could plan ahead quite easily.

"With their supply lines compromised, they will be forced to attack soon. They cannot sit idle and wait resources for too long," he spoke and the two of them nodded.

"So, we use a pincer attack," he began as he pushed forward the black dragon representing the golden army and the Blackfyres.

"We let them push forward, while we order Lord Tarly to move in from the back, and the Benjen's forces to push in from the side, we attack them from the three sides, overwhelming them completely," he said as he arranged the red dragons appropriately.

He looked up and saw both Arthur and Jamie exchange glances before they nodded along.

"That is a sound plan, but we will need to coordinate it precisely," added Arthur, and Rhaegar nodded.

"Indeed, but this is the best course of action, and I believe with Lord Tarly and Benjen leading the two forces, we can pull this off," he added, and Arthur nodded.

"So be it, then let us discuss the finer details of the plan," and then began the real hard work. And the three of them would leave his solar hours later after having the whole plan mapped out. It was time for this whole war to end.

0000

DAENYS TARGARYEN

In the Red Keep, the situation was tense for different reasons. The young Lord Paramount of Riverladns had refused the Crown's orders once more and continued his support for the faith militants who had grown bolder over the last couple of weeks. They ahd completely stepped out into the open, and were harassing Lords that refused to give them support. The Riverlands were filled with riots and carnage, making a direct intervention from the Crown necessary.

And so, the Prince sat down with his mother and his sister as he informed them about his plan to deal with this whole ordeal.

"Do you really have to go?" Daenys questioned, and her brother nodded back.

"I do, The North is really angry over this whole ordeal, and the only thing stopping them from raising their army and making their way across the crossing is my word. I need to handle this personally," added her brother and she saw their mother nod along.

The whole debacle had begun with the abduction of Lord Eddard Stark, by some faith militants and now had begun to blow up as the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands failed to order their command and do his job of keeping peace in his lands.

The Riverlands were filled with religious riots, and the faith militants had come out into the open and were trying to force Houses to bow down to their will. Yet their Lord Paramount did nothing and had the audacity to call them out for not being devout followers of the Seven.

"But can't you just send 'dourface' to deal with this? Do you really have to go personally?" she complained and saw her mother's disapproving gaze land on her for the nickname she often sued for Stannis.

"Daenys! Mind your language!" her mother cut in from the side, as she gently slapped her on the back of her head. Though Aemon seemed amused by her antics.

"No, I cannot. Lord Edmure is being stubborn and refusing my command. I have to do this personally, to make a display of the Crown's authority," her brother answered.

"Do be careful Aemon, this whole faith militant uprising seems rather pre-planned and pre-mediated to me?" suddenly their mother cut in from the side making her frown. Though her brother simply nodded along as a pensive look appeared on his face.

"So, you seem to thing the same way. I have been looking at it and have reached the same conclusion," and she was surprised by this information.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"This means that someone has been preparing for this for quite some time. This Preacher and this High Sparrow have spent years in training their men and brainwashing the common people to follow them. So, we have to be careful to not fall into any sort of trap," explained her brother and she nodded.

"Then isn't that one more reason for you to not go to Riverlands yourself. Especially with the situation in the Stepstones being as tense as it is shouldn't you stay in the capital to manage things here," she said and her brother shook his head.

"No, the most important thing right now is to make sure that we avoid Civil war and make it clear that the Crown's authority is absolute. Plus, Rhaegar has assured me that he has things under control in Stepstones, and as for the matter of handling the running of the Kingdoms I have the perfect person in mind to take my place," said her brother and she nodded along as she reached for her glass of Arbor and began to sip as she asked him.

"And who is that?" and she missed him smirk as his eyes landed onto her.

"You."

"PUFF!" the wine nearly went down her windpipe, as she coughed a few times before she looked up at the smiling face of Aemon.

"What! ME!" she said scandalously and he nodded.

"Yes, you. Father taught you exactly what he taught me and Rhaegar, so you I believe you are perfectly capable of running the Kingdoms in my absence," said her brother.

"But, that's too much work," she complained and saw Aemon smirk as he simply shrugged.

"You will just have to get used to it then, my dear sister. I leave in two days, so I believe you should join me from tomorrow to familiarize yourself with the tasks," he said as he sipped his own wine.

She was perplexed by this and looked towards her mother for support who simply shook her head.

"He is right, your father did have you attend the same lectures as Aemon and Rhaegar. It is time for you to put them to use," said her mother giving her no support.

"But what about Elia? Isn't she the Queen, shouldn't she be doing this," she quickly cut in as she brought out the best excuse. Though Aemon simply shrugged.

"I asked her, but she said she wasn't feeling well these days and expressed full confidence in your abilities to handle this task," said Aemon and she knew that she had no way out now.

She would have to wake up early now, and she shivered as she recalled the times she had attended their father's lectures on ruling and governing. As much as she loved her father, he was a harsh teacher and would accept no excuse for tardiness.

"I believe this settles it then, I will expect you in my solar at dawn tomorrow so you can familiarize yourself with the running of the Kingdoms," said Aemon, and she felt her fear turn into reality with those words.

"Don't worry dear. I believe you will do just fine. After all your father did say you were more creative than both Rhaegar and Aemon in your thinking," said their mother from the side, reassuring her.

"I believe he also said that she was the laziest amongst us, with the penchant for resorting to her most primal instincts in case of any trouble," cut in her brother, and she narrowed her eyes at him as he slowly smirked and continued.

"In short, he called her an animal," and she quickly reached for her glass of wine and threw it straight at him.

"What did you just call me, you bastard!" and she watched in glee as Aemon was drenched in wine from head to toe though the elation was short-lived as she heard the impassive and unimpressed voice of her mother cut in quickly.

"DAENYS!"

0000

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