Journey towards the Crownlands (1)
The next journey was quite uneventful, and everything went exactly as planned. A few days after leaving the port of Sunspear they got very close to the island of Tarth.
To avoid sending any wrong hostile signals they used only one ship to get close to the harbor and left the other three ships at a place farther away from Evenfall Hall.
The beautiful blue seas around Tarth truly deserved to be admired. No wonder people were giving the name Sapphire Island to Tarth, even though not a single sapphire could be found on it. Tarth, though a poor island, provides much of the fleet of the Stormlands, and is vital to the regions naval power.
The seat of House Tarth is located on the western shores of Tarth, a beautiful and strong fortress perched on a crag over the sea.
The fortress comprises two fortified enclosures, only accessible through a drawbridge; the curtain wall is high and imposing. While well-fortified and powerfully built the castle is still a truly beautiful seat, of very fine craftsmanship. The Great Hall is covered by a hammerbeam roof, partially gilded, and painted, the walls lined with fine tapestries and the floor made of beautiful marble with blue and pink veining. The throne of Tarth rests under a dais, heavily embroidered with suns in splendor, coiling dragons, and crescents. The castle has been embellished and furbished by many generations of Tarths and is one of the finest residences in the Stormlands.
Oberyn was most interested in the folklore which they learned after landing on the islands and making their way towards the main seat of House Tarth.
Ser Galladon of Morne, called the Perfect Knight, was a legendary knight from Morne on the isle of Tarth. Ser Galladon is remembered as a perfect knight whose valor was so great the Maiden fell in love with him. She gave him an enchanted sword, the Just Maid, to demonstrate her love for him. No sword could check the sword's blows, and no shield could stop them.
According to the legend, Galladon only unsheathed the sword three times, not once against a mortal man, for the fight would have been unfair. Galladon is said to have slain a dragon with the Just Maid. Many people living on Tarth were so proud they even claimed to be descended from him.
Unfortunately, the birth of Brienne Tarth was currently well on their way and the Lord of House Tarth had no time or patience to entertain guests, which shortened their stay on the beautiful island a lot. He still was very grateful when his stewards announced the large number of gifts for his wife and the newly born baby which he was desperately waiting for.
When Selwyn Tarth learned about the rare medicine Penicillin and the many precious tonics that could be used for the mother and child after the birth, he was excited.
He might not be a very strong and powerful man, but he truly loved his family, which made the death of his wife even more impactful for him. After the death of his wife, Selwyn took a new mistress every year to drown his sorrows. Hopefully Victor's gift could turn this bad fate around for him.
After leaving the island of Tarth the fleet composed of four ships made their way up north towards the port of Duskendale. The next journey let them straight through the Gullet and across of Massey's Hook.
Massey's Hook is a peninsula in the crownlands that defines the eastern extent of Blackwater Bay. Ships must sail around to get to King's Landing from the south. The Gullet separates Massey's Hook from Dragonstone and Driftmark to the north, while southwest of the peninsula are the kingswood and the Wendwater.
Sharp Point, the seat of House Bar Emmon, sits at the northern end of the Hook. Farther south on the eastern shore lies Stonedance, the seat of House Massey, from which the land gets its name.
Dragonstone is a castle on the island of the same name at the entrance to Blackwater Bay, below the Dragonmont. It was the original seat of House Targaryen in Westeros and had been colonized and fortified as the westernmost outpost of the Valyrian Freehold. Shaped from stone to look like dragons, the castle has a dark reputation.
After Aegon's Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, Dragonstone in the newly created crownlands served as the seat of their heir apparent, known as the Prince of Dragonstone.
After the wedding of Rhaegar and Elia soon they would live on Dragonstone and even give birth to their first child and oldest daughter on this island. The reason for this move was the increasingly bad relationship between the crown prince and the Mad King.
Travelling this far up north and being so close to King's Landing really felt strange for Victor, because it was the first time for him to be this close to the most important city of the TV series he watched in his previous life.
Up to this point he met many people of the original series but now he was close to the biggest city of the Known World, a city as majestic as dangerous.
To a certain extent his respect for the dangers of King's Landing grew the more he got closer to it. He was quite happy that his estimation of his own strength was still realistic, and his calmness and clear mind remained.
If he straight up walked into King's Landing and behaved like a protagonist with complete disregard of the major forces of Westeros, because he simply had many successful years in Lys and the Stepstones, his death was probably not far away.
Because of this experience he even changed some of his plans and tried to keep his presence as secret as possible. This prompted him to not sail to the large port of Duskendale but rather to target Rook's Rest farther in the north and west of the Crackclaw Point.
Rook's Rest is surrounded by fields to the west, piney woods and mist-shrouded hills to the north and the narrow sea to the east. The port and city were a lot smaller than Duskendale and his ships could stay a lot more secretive. His 100 private soldiers and guardians could even capture the whole city by themself if they needed to, which would be completely impossible in the larger port city of Duskendale.