The Book Tower

"...fifteen barrels of cured fish and finally, three barrels of Arbor Gold, my Lords." The captain of the Redwyne resupplying said. The shipment from Seagard had arrived earlier today and to their surprise, found that the Ten Towers had already been taken, something that made unloading their good much easier.

"Any news on the Ironborn fleet at the Volmark?" Lord Damon Marbrand asked, "The Redwyne fleet must've attacked by now."

"They have, my Lord. Much of the Ironborn fleet based in Harlaw had been destroyed and scattered." The captain replied, far too smugly in my opinion.

"What about the rest of the war, what's happening on the other islands?" I ask, no-one knows that we have taken the Ten Towers, bar the Redwyne captain before us, and so no ravens have been sent here, it wouldn't be good to send critical information into an enemy castle after all.

"His Grace has laid waste to Lordsport and subdued House Botley, last I heard was that he is marching on castle Pyke. The Lord of Blacktyde has also been slain in battle, his heir is only a child and House Blacktyde has pulled out of the war entirely. I haven't heard anything else, my Lord." The captain reported. It was understandable, the counter attack had only been going on for a week.

"You may leave us." I tell him, the captain gives a nod before leaving the room. It was good news all around, we now had enough food to last us a month and that's only relying on the food from the shipment, not taking any from the surrounding villages.

"We should march on the Volmark now that it is weakened, we take it, then it wont be long before the rest of the houses fall in line." Andros Brax suggests.

It had been two days since taking the Ten Towers and word had travelled fast and several houses had already surrendered to us. Harridan hall were amongst the first to bend, as was the Tower of Glimmering, though that is no surprise as it is nothing more than a glorified lighthouse. The Kennings and Myres also sent word, promising to surrender if they were unharmed. The Harlaw's of Grey Garden and Harlaw Hall remained silent, so did the Stonetrees and Volmarks of Volmark.

I nod at his reasoning, there wasn't much they could do against us, not even if they combined all their armies. "Lord Brax, I will give you command of 7,000 men and you'll march to the Volmark. You are to subdue House Volmark and take a hostage, after you have done that you'll come back here, we haven't the men necessary to occupy every castle on Harlaw. I want you to try your hardest to not harm the local populace if you can help it." I ordered.

"It shall be done, my Lord." Lord Brax replies, glad that he's having his opportunity of glory. I noticed Lord Marbrand bristle slightly, he hadn't been given any task of importance this war, unlike Lords Brax and Crakehall, I would have to be careful in delegating responsibilities now, it wouldn't do any good to disrespect one of the Westerlands finest military commanders.

"Good." I said, "Anything else?"

Orton steps forward at my question, "We caught a knight and his men raping a serving girl in the kitchens just after the siege, they are currently awaiting judgement in the dungeons."

"Do you know who they are?" I ask, they were going to be sentenced to death, even if they belonged to one of the more powerful houses. I had already announced what the punishment for rape would be, to not execute them would mean I was taking back my word, making it lose value. After all, the word of a Lannister is as good as gold.

Orton nods his head, "He is a knight of House Lorch, Amory, and his accomplices bared the scorpion of his house." I do a double take at that. Amory Lorch? This could actually be a good thing, as long as I make the most out of it.

"Amory Lorch?" I ask, Orton nods his head, "So be it, he'll face the same punishment as anyone else and will be executed on the morrow." Murmuring broke out in the room, some had expected me to give him a more lighter punishment, I observed some lords even nodding their heads at my decision.

I would need to make sure his body is well preserved and identifiable before shipping it to Dorne. I would also need to either find a replacement body that looks similar to Amory to give to his family or just pay them off, the latter would probably be easier. Even if someone found out, it was worth it, I would rather have Dorne as an ally than an enemy, I would even settle for a state of neutrality if I could.

"Well, unless anyone else has anything to say, then you may all take your leave." I waited for a few seconds, giving anyone the chance to speak up. Seeing that no one would, I sat up and made my way out of the room.

~

The book tower was the thickest of the Ten Towers and was the home of the largest library in the Iron Islands. The inside of the tower had three floors, all filled with bookcases, desks and chairs. Visiting other castle's libraries was something I enjoyed, people rarely made copies of books and so there was a high chance I'll stumble across some that I've never read before.

I dragged my fingers across the spines of the books as I walked past, trying to find an interesting book to read. I nearly get to the end of the bookcase before I stop on a book that looked more like a brick.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘖𝘧 𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴.

A very rare book made by Marwyn the mage, I had heard that he mentions that he has found three pages of Signs and Portents, a legendary book detailing all of Daenys Targaryen's dreams. I was surprised to see such a book, even if it was a copy.

I grab the book, careful not to drop it or damage it in any way and head towards the area where the desks were. A candle light was flickering around the corner and when I rounded it, I could see a silhouette of a man sat at a desk with a book in front of him. I knew it was Rodrik Harlaw, he did have a famous reputation for his love of books. I haven't had the chance to speak to him since his surrender, part of that is due to my lack of spare time and the other part is because Rodrik Harlaw is a man who prefers his own solitude.

I pulled out the chair across from him quietly, sit down and start to read. I was around five pages in before he spoke to me.

"This is my second time reading this book since the siege." He said, looking up at me. "And I still haven't found anything about digging under a castles walls." Rodrik had tilted the cover of the book just enough that the candlelight shone on it. 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘳

"You most likely wont." I replied, meeting his eyes. "I haven't found anything similar to it in the library of Casterly Rock."

Rodrik Harlaw hums, "I had heard rumours of you, as I am sure most of Westeros has by now. I didn't think too much on the rumours, thought that it might just be bards trying to spin a new tale. However, now I can see that it was foolish to disregard them, after all, all rumours have some truth to them." He chuckles.

The Lord of Harlaw adopts a sombre tone, "I opposed this war from the very beginning. Balon Greyjoy is a power-hungry, greedy man, he does not understand that the times of the Kings of the Isles and the Rivers have long since past. I advised heavily against it, yet I still participated in it, after he was my Good-brother. I should've followed my gut, now my sister is a widow and I've lost my sons."

I nod along at his words, I didn't feel sorry for him, those were the consequences of war, However I wasn't a psychopath and I could empathize with the man.

"I have heard of what will happen to those men who raped one of my serving girls. If you are willing to execute one of your Bannermen for that, then I know you are different to your father." He told me.

"Where are you going with this?" I ask, I knew he was going to request something of me, I could tell.

"This war was lost from the very beginning. Robert Baratheon's anger is well-renowned and if he was willing to overlook the butchering of children, then who are we to say that he won't do so again?" Rodrik questioned rhetorically.

"Now I may be wrong about you, but if I'm not, then I beg of you, please do what you can to save the children, my nephews and niece are innocent, they had no choice in the matters of war. If you give me your word, then I will give you mine that I will help you in any way that I can." The Lord of Harlaw pleaded to me.

I think over his deal for a moment. On one hand, I couldn't exactly guarantee the safety of Balon's children, except for Asha and Theon, though it might've all changed due to my appearance. On the other hand, having Rodrik Harlaw help subdue the rest of the island as well as some other plans I have in store would be extremely useful.

"I can only protect the two youngest children, Asha and Theon, the other one is even older than me and will most likely fight. If I do this, then you must hold up on your side of the deal." I told him, I had no worries of him not holding his end of the bargain, he didn't seem the type of person to do that and was too desperate for him not to."

Rodrik sighed, "Fine. I swear it on the Drowned God that I will assist you in any way that I can, so long as you protect Asha and Theon Greyjoy."

I nod my head, "I swear it upon the Seven." I wasn't a religious man deep down but I thought it was suitable to do so as he sweared upon his own god."