7.3 Manderly and Dustin

Wyman Manderly was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, his head full of complicated thoughts. Things certainly were complicated.

'My idiot son...' was one of the chaotic thoughts the Lord of White Harbor couldn't get out of his mind.

Things might be quiet now, but Wyman knew all the chaos that was coming.

"Any time the Kingdom suffers a crisis, they'll take advantage of it to remove the Starks from power," the morbid man muttered. Lord Manderly had not found an opportunity to bring the Dustin closer to the Starks, while driving them away from the Boltons, but now such an opportunity would never present itself, with Catelyn Tully's foolish performance.

'My son furthermore seems to have a very bad memory. A thousand years before the Conquest, a pledge was made and oaths were sworn in the Wolf's Lair before gods old and new. When we were painfully beset and friendless, harassed from our homes and in danger of our lives, the wolves took us in, fed us and protected us against our enemies. The city is built on the land they gave us. In return, we swore that we should always be their men, but my son now forgets that promise, and seems to side more with the Starks than with the Dustin'.

A few minutes passed, and someone knocked at the door; revealing Ser Wylis Manderly, one of Wyman's sons.

"Father, what do you want this time?" the man asked reluctantly; his father had cursed and insulted him at the last meeting.

"I'm going to cancel the engagement with Dustin House, and we're going to stop exporting their gold."

"What?" muttered Ser Wylis in disbelief, not quite believing his father's words. 'Wolfgang was right' thought the man, recalling a conversation he had with Wolfgang before he left. He told him that his father was blindly loyal to those who despised him, and that this blindness prevented him from doing his best for the people of White Harbor.

Ser Wylis had been somewhat annoyed by Wolfgang's words, finding him insolent, but after defending them against the Lannisters and Starks, he decided to simply remain silent and not answer Lord Dustin. Now it seems Wolfgang's words were not so crazy.

"Father, we made a deal, in exchange for those farming techniques."

"We will simply give up farming and return to our silver mines, and we won't ask them for the miners."

"There is nothing rational about your decision father, it is nonsense, and I don't intend to do that to our allies."

"Don't you understand?" asked Wyman. "House Dustin is too dangerous a threat to House Stark, we need to do everything we can to weaken them. I'm the only one who sees the magnitude of their danger."

"House Stark this, House Stark that. Father, our house has served them faithfully for nearly a thousand years, we don't have to think about them all the time. You are exaggerating the situation, they are not a threat but quite the opposite. You didn't see it, but the Starks despised us while the Dustins defended us. My daughter will marry Wolfgang Dustin!".

"Then you will no longer be my son!" cried Wyman Manderly, but the next moment his eyes widened as he noticed what he had said. "No, I'm sorry Wylis, I didn't mean that."

"But you did say it," the man said in a resentful voice, looking at his father as if looking at a madman. "You are too blinded by loyalty father, while you have a duty to House Stark, you also have a duty to House Manderly and the rest of your family."

"Yes, I do, I simply have to find a way to complement them...".

"But the betrothal is not cancelled, and neither is the trade of your gold. We make about the same as we do on silver, and only for transportation."

"All right," grumbled Wyman Manderly.

"I won't act disloyal to them either. It will become my daughter's house, and they will be our blood."

Lord Wyman heaved a heavy sigh, perhaps it really was inevitable the fall of House Stark.

"But let me tell you something son, if at any time they should think to act against the North and House Stark, House Manderly will be the first to enlist their levies to stop them. do you understand?".

"They will not, father," replied Ser Wylis, and he left the place. As he made his way to his chambers, a thought crossed his mind. 'Does acting against the Starks necessarily mean acting against the North?' It was a dangerous thought to say the least.