Interlude, years 250-251AC

In the year 250 AC House Swann hit its lowest point.

Lord Sam planned an attack against Lady Wyl, his motives: ambition and greed.

Sam Swann didn't think a woman was fit to rule, he didn't think she had the ability to be as good a ruler as a man. He thought that the lands of House Wyl would be better off under his leadership.

For him, women are only good for giving birth and fucking.

His men, with promises of gold and women, supported his campaign.

At first all went well, the first 500 men he sent to Wyl pillaged and killed everyone in their path. Two villages were conquered by the time the Dornish troops arrived.

3,000 Dornish soldiers, all thirsty for blood. All eager to kick the invaders out of their home.

By that time the rest of Lord Swann's troops had also reached the Wyl lands.

2,900 Stormlanders against 3,000 Dornishmen.

The first battle was fairly even but everything changed in the second. Lord Swann received word that Lord Morrigen has invaded his lands and is laying siege to his ancestral home.

He ordered a thousand of his soldiers to return with him to teach that upstart a lesson. The nearly two thousand remaining soldiers were ordered to use defensive strategies to wear down the Dornishmen.

Returning home he did not expect to be attacked by 2,000 Whitehead men, Lord Swann and most of his men were killed in the battle.

As for the remaining soldiers in the Marches, they were crushed by the combined might of House Wyl and House Manwood, who joined the war on the orders of the Princess of Dorne.

Lord Swann died without any heir and the Lords Whitehead and Morrigen shared his lands as they had rights over them since their heirs have Swann blood.

Lord Morrigen was married to Sam Swann's father's older sister, and Lord Whitehead was married to Sam Swann's sister.

Their heirs have Swann blood and the greatest claim on those lands, instead of fighting for them both lords agreed to divide them equally.

The reason for their attack against Lord Swann?

Rumors reached Lord Morrigen's ears that Lord Swann intended to increase his power by conquering Wyl and challenging House Baratheon's claim to the Stormlands, Lord Tommen Morrigen seized the opportunity not only to curry favor with his liege but also to increase his power.

As for Lord Whitehead, he heard rumors that his wife intended to kill him and take his land. When one of his servants died after tasting his food, he imprisoned his wife and found letters between her and her brother planning his assassination. Enraged he killed her and gathered his soldiers, ready to show House Swann what happens when you attack House Whitehead.

What no Lord expected is that the Crown would intervene. Aegon V rejected their claims over House Swann`s lands and made a distant cousin of late Lord Swann the new Lord.

Both protested but the king's word was law, Lord Ormund Baratheon intervened to prevent a revolt among his lords but the damage was already done. Both houses resented House Targaryen and House Baratheon.

The king's intentions were good, if a powerful House as House Swann fell in the midst of the chaotic situation facing all the kingdoms, the repercussions would be disastrous. He had to be tough and show that one House can't just attack another House and take their land away.

But that left the question of the invasion to Wyl, Princess Dorna demanded reparations. Her husband almost died!

But the king only made the new Lord Swann pay 10,000 golden dragons to House Wyl and 10,000 golden dragons to House Martell in reparations for the damage caused.

Needless to say, no one in Dorne was satisfied with the king's resolution.

That amount of gold can be considered a lot for most but for House Martell it was nothing more than an insult. It was as if he was telling them that the prince consort's legs are only worth 10,000 gold coins.

Relations with House Targaryen soured.

***

In the rest of the kingdoms the revolts continued and by 251AC the murders were not only small lords and landed knights, the riots reached more powerful lords. On the second moon of 251AC, the sister of Lord Whent of Harrenhal was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by The Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig, who were discovered to be the instigators of many of the riots in central Westeros.

The king offered a bounty of 100 golden dragons on the head of each of those criminals.

But to little avail, The Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig earned the love and adoration of the smallfolk through lies and deceit. They were seen as liberating heroes, sent by the gods to save them from the cruelty of the lords.

The three criminals knew how to make a name for themselves: they hired minstrels to sing stories about their false deeds, they also hired farmers and servants to tell stories about how The Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig saved them from the cruelty of such and such lords...

Not even the promise of 300 golden dragons was enough for the smallfolk to betray their beloved heroes, in fact they helped hide them from the authorities.

Some lords increased the bounties and others imprisoned peasants and tortured them for information.

Neither tactic worked in their favor, their attempts only served to further increase the fame of the criminals.

So in mid-251AC Prince Daeron assembled an army of knights to hunt down The Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig.

After roaming the realms for many moons they finally found the criminals, the resulting battle became subject of many songs. The criminals were killed but not before killing the youngest son of King Aegon V Targaryen.

All the kingdoms mourned the death of the brave prince, his funeral was the largest since the funeral of King Maekar I, all the great Houses attended the funeral of the late prince.

Including House Martell.

***

NOTE: Next chapt is gonna be traveling to Kings Landing, I will introduce a new regular OC: Doran`s sworn shield.

Also while I was editing chap 21 I noticed some thing that cracked me: " shakes the prince's, as per protocol" while reading I didnt noticed the coma and I read: and he shakes the prince`s ass. I was like WTF did I write?!

So yeah, I just wanted to share that with you, have a good day.