29 The State of the Realm

Moat Cailin, The Northern Realms

Jon, Robb and Theon Dustin were atop the Children's Tower and were watching the army under the command of Roose Ryswell. Thirty thousand men were at Moat Cailin and were all ready to march to war with any kingdom. Seeing Theon and Jon not taking it seriously, Robb asked them, "Are you not worried?"

Theon raised an eyebrow while Jon smiled at his brother and replied, "Why should we be?"

Robb answered, "We are on the brink of marching to war. Shouldn't we sta..." but was interrupted by Theon Dustin, "We are not."

"What do you mean?" asked Robb.

It was Jon who smiled and answered him, "You didn't go to Skaagos and the Sisters with us so you can't really understand but all of this seems like a mummer's play. The fact that neither father, Aryan, Lord Dustin or Lord Umber is here to command our army was also noticed by a few other commanders."

Theon continued, "Yes, the way we attacked Skaagos and the Sisters, even if it was with less men, was swift and strong, we already destroyed them before anyone even knew we marched. But, now we seem lazy, our march was slow and noisy, our spies already told uncle Roose that northern ships were spotted by the Mallisters and the ironborns in the west, they already started to built their defenses. It's like we want everyone to know we are coming. So, the only explanation that we got is that all this march to war is a mummer's play."

Robb was wide-eyed and started to think about it and asked, "But why? I understand about the western fleet's actions if this is a mummer's play but what about us? Father and Lord Dustin always told me that any spy were immediately dealt with by Aryan's spy network."

Jon answered with a smile, "Unless some of them were allowed north for this exact situation."

Robb was incredulous, "But that would mean that..."

Theon finished his sentance, "Yes, Lord Stark had already planned this mummer's play a few moons ago.", he then smiled, "I often thank the gods that he isn't a Lannister or a Tyrell."

Jon laughed at that comment, "Can you imagine him being raised under the Light of the Seven cunts?", it was followed by laughter by the three youngsters. After a few years with William Dustin and learning from Rickard Karstark, Robb completely turned his back on his mother's religion. He even sometimes wondered how she could think that a Stark, even more someone who will hold the Moat in the future, could be raised in the light of the Seven.

They were interrupted by Lord Ryswell entering the room who raised an eyebrow at the three of them and smiled, "So you figured it out?"

The three smiled and nodded, Roose said, "Good, I have an assignment for the three of you. They are seven spies here, one belong to the Martells, one to the Lannisters, two to the Tyrells, two to the spider and one to the master of coin. You will take a hundred men and hunt them down."

Robb was the first to understand, "You want us to let them escape."

Jon and Theon understood after that and Roose smiled and asked, "Why do you think that?"

"You told us their allegiances, so I am pretty sure that you already know everything about them and we know they only know what we want them to know so capturing them is useless and if you wanted them killed you wouldn't come to us, you would have already sent people specializing in this. So, you want them to escape south, after all, that could be explained, seven of the best spies of the south escaping from three greenboys." Robb answered.

Roose smiled got even wider after seeing that neither Jon nor Theon were surprised. He laughed and said, "Smart lads. And please, make sure they escape. Although it would be a funny story, 'The three greenboys ordered to let spies escape but unfortunately captured them', we don't want all this planning to go to waste. Now, go."

The three boys walked out and started to organize their mission. They came back a fortnight later with confirmation that all the spies escaped.

~

Pentos

It has been two days since Viserys learnt of the unrest in Westeros and learnt of Khal Drogo enormous khalasar and decided that he would offer her to him in exchange for his forty thousand mounted riders. Daenerys was wroth with him and this time it was Viserys who nearly woke the dragon. But, Viserys didn't care at all about her pleading. So here she was in the middle of her lessons with Alamis, frowning and getting angry without listening.

"Are you still angry little dragon?" asked Alamis

"Of course I'm angry! My brother decided to sell me to a rapist for forty thousand men. Does this idiot not understand that the Dothraki will never traverse the Narrow Sea and even if they do, even our staunchest allies will turn their back on us if we come with dothrakis in Westeros. That is if we don't even get slaughtered by their navy first." Daenerys nearly screamed.

"So, what are you gonna do in this situation?" Alamis asked with a smirk.

"What can I even do?" Daenerys asked helplessly.

"This is something you have to figure out on your own, little dragon." Alamis said.

"I can run away." said Daenerys without conviction.

Alamis laughed and said, "Even if you manage to escape Illyrio's manse, you will be a Targaryen alone in Essos to be killed by the Baratheon's or the Lannister's assassins or even worse, being shipped to Slaver's Bay."

Daenerys bitterly said, "So, I am to become a broodmare for a dothraki to pass around to his horde. The last daughter of Old Valyria being a whore for an entire khalasar."

Alamis smiled bitterly this time, "Your brother should have turned to Westeros, to Dorne and the Reach but he is too conceited. He thinks the world owes him and that when he lands on Westeros, everyone will flock to the Dragon's banner and that the main players of the rebellion will come to beg forgiveness. He is a fool. Even if King Robert dies, the Baratheon brothers will never give up the throne, neither will Tywin and let's not talk about the Starks reaction."

Daenerys bitterly asked, "So what can I do? Please tell me."

"You can wait and watch. Illyrio said that the Seven Kingdoms are on the brink of war. Robert Baratheon keeps everything together, his marriage to the Lannisters, his friendship with the Starks, his fostering with the Arryns and the Tully's daughters marriages keep the realm together under him. But the moment he dies, everything will implode. Let me see if your studies in history in politics did any good. Tell me, why would everything implode?"

Daenerys thought about it for a few minutes and answered, "First of all, the royal children's parentage, I am sure both Stannis and Renly will soon figure it out if they haven't already. You would think that they would rally together against the bastards but according to Varys informantions, Renly is an ambitious man who see himself King so he will try to usurp his brother with the help of the oaf of Highgarden. The Stormlords will be divided because of this. The Lannisters will obviously back Joffrey. The Crownlands will reluctantly back the Lannisters, the same with the Lords of the Narrow Sea with Stannis. Dorne will join anyone who is against the Lannister. The block of the Vale, the Riverlands and the North will join Stannis." Daenerys answered.

Alamis smiled and answered, "You would've been right if the ruler of Dorne and the North were Oberyn Martell and Eddard Stark. Doran will wait patiently and will not take any actions, he is a pacifist or maybe he wants people to believe that, I have no idea, he is a complete mystery even for me. As for the North, The Bloody Wolf is a true Stark compared to his uncle who built a sept in both Winterfell and the Moat. I spent some time in the North and I know that the northeners are relieved that their Lord is a true Stark and not a falcon in wolf's clothing. Aryan and the North hate the Vale and the Riverlands, he also despise the Lannister but that is a trait that all Stark have. Hoster Tully repeatedly tried to have his blood as heir to the North, he even tried to have The Bloody Wolf branded as a bastard, so Aryan despise him. He hates him even more for his actions during the Rebellion where he strong-armed Ned Stark to marry his daughter by blocking his army at the Twins and threatening to fight for the Dragons. Every northener, as well as Aryan Stark, also consider him responsible for Lyanna Stark's death. If they weren't blocked at the crossing, the war would have ended earlier and the beloved she-wolf of the North would have been saved and if there is anything the northeners are famous for is remembering grudges."

Daenerys couldn't but be impressed with Alamis' mind and asked, "What about the North and the Vale?"

"Well the North and the Starks, and the Vale and the Arryns, are complete opposite to each other. One is the last bastion of the Old Gods and are completely First Men while the other is the first bastion of the Seven and are completely Andals. They warred with each other for a thousand years and accordingly to history no one ever took advantage but this is false. The Starks repeatedly defeated the Arryns with the help of the mountain clans of the Vale. The Vale often asked for helped from the Reach, the Riverlands and the Westerlands. The historians of the Citadel never mention this or even the last battle of this war because of their relation with the Faith but apparently the Vale, the Reach and the Westerlands with the Faith Militant attacked Moat Cailin with a hundred and thirty thousand men but less than eight thousand ever returned. I don't know any details of the battle but I know that the North calls it "The Breaking of the Faith", it was the last time Moat Cailin ever was attacked and the last time the Faith tried to attack the North until the time of your ancestor Baelor."

Daenerys was completely dumbfounded, she always thought that the Starks and the Arryns were staunch allies, she then asked, "So what do you think the Starks will do?"

Alamis smiled and answered, "By all accounts, Aryan Stark is a mixture of Brandon 'The Builder', Theon 'The Hungry Wolf' and Cregan Stark, tell me what do you think he would want?"

Daenerys thought about it for a few minutes before her eyes got wide and answered, "His family has been King of Winter for more than ten thousand years and King in the North for eight. He wants independence, he wants his crown, he doesn't want to answer to the Iron Throne anymore."

Alamis smiled and nodded and Daenerys asked her, "Doesn't the Lords of Westeros understand this?"

Alamis shook her head and explained, "No, all of them are obsessed with the Iron Throne and the 'Game', none of them could ever understand someone who doesn't seek it. The moment that they will finally understand the Starks' true goal, it would've already been too late."

~

Sunspear, Dorne

This last couple of years have been the worst for Doran. Firstly, his daughter gets impregnated by one of the usurper's dog and destroy his plan of having her as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Secondly, after Amory Lorch's disappearance, the Lannisters and the Usurper eyes have been on him and Dorne for a long time and that has reduced the scope of his movements. Thirdly, knowing the madness of Viserys and the fact that Arianne was now a mother of a lovely boy, he tried to keep his distance to not get attached but anyone who passes even a minute with the boy will get attached. So he attempted to bring the Targaryen girl from Pentos to Dorne to offer her a marriage alliance with Quentyn and to offer her Dorne's army for her to seek the throne but even that has been thwarted.

And now, he had to leave his family to deal with his spies report of the North's movement. After sending ravens to having Prince's Pass sealed and to his bannermen to have their spears ready, he sent a letter to Lys to have Oberyn return to Dorne. He gritted his teeth in anger when Manfrey told him that the damn Stark was in the Water Gardens with his daughter and grandson while he was here because of his kingdom's action. He decided to go back to the Water Gardens after dealing with everything to have a word with the boy without knowing that Aryan decided to return to Sunspear to take his ship north at the same moment.

~

Highgarden, The Reach

Olenna Tyrell massaged her temples trying to curb the headache that was plaguing her. When news of her spies North came, her oaf of a son immediately send ravens to all the Lords of the Reach to prepare for war. She regretted having her to that meeting thinking that it would again be useless news. That idiot wanted to attack the North for a pre-emptive strike. She always wondered how could someone who slipped out of her legs could be so idiotic.

Part of the training the noble children received was of the strength and the defenses of the various houses of Westeros. They were taught this in case they had to wage wars for the continuation of their legacy. One thing that was stressed was to never invade Dorne or the North. Attacking those two kingdoms was simply suicide. Especially the North, even more now that they rebuilt Moat Cailin and both their fleet. The only reason the North was included in the Seven Kingdoms was because King Torrhen Stark refuse to spill the blood of his people by engaging in a war like Dorne. Olenna knew that like Dorne, they would have successfully kept the dragons at bay as well with guerrilla tactics and could have killed at least one of them.

The other thing that worried her was what Willas told her about the creatures on the other side of the Wall. Unlike her oaf of a son and her idiotic grandson Loras, she, like Garlan and Margaery knew that Willas will not lie about anything like that. She wasn't pious but she was still raised under the light of the Seven and just thinking about that was ridiculous. She trusted her grandchild and even believed him but she had to see it from her own eyes to remove any doubt whatsoever.

She was proud to say that her granddaughter will become an amazing player in the Game of Thrones. Margaery absorbed knowledge and intrigue faster than anyone she knew. After the betrothal between Sansa Stark and Theon Dustin, she entertained the idea of marrying her to the crown prince but Robert Baratheon will never accept. So, Mace has started to become close to Renly. She also heard from her spies in King's Landing that both Stannis and Jon Arryn are often seen together and visiting children in the capital, all bastards of the King apparently. She also knew the truth of the royal children, it wasn't hard, they didn't have a single Baratheon's trait. People could say that they took after the mother but once is a chance, twice is a coincidence but three times is a pattern.

She knew that whether Stannis or Joffrey became king, they will never allow the Tyrells to gain power, Stannis hate her son for the siege of Storm's End and is also married to a Florent, who always wanted Highgarden and become Lord Paramount of the Reach. While Cersei and Tywin will never allow the Tyrells to grow strong. So, even in his idiocy, Mace sometimes has brilliant ideas. Renly is their best bet with his fondness of her grandson and one day, there will be a king with Tyrell blood in the Iron Throne.