9
285 AC
Dreadfort
"Did you find anything more about these things?" Roose Bolton asked his family Maester Wolkan, who was now frowning at the drawing images on the paper.
"Nothing more I fear milord, nothing other than guess at what they are and what they can possibly do and that all of them are from wood and little of iron platings." Wolkan defeatedly said as he showed the first drawing.
"This one is quite easy, as we know it is called a trebuchet, its creation is dated to Yunkai empire, and lastly seen in action when lord Tywin Lannister used it on his vassal houses Reyne and Tarbeck," Wolkan said as he showed multiple points on the drawing.
"Although I might add, it is truly different from Citadel's records, much bigger and from its much more refined form seems its build to throw stones at much larger volume and much farther than Yunkai trebuchets." Roose nodded his head, looking at the drawing with interest.
"And this?" Roose pointed to another drawing, a much smaller contraption was shown there, but its similarities with the trebuchet were clear.
"This milord seems to be a much smaller version of a trebuchet much more mobile, from how human forms are drawn near it, I would say, that where trebuchet was built to destroy walls, this one is supposed to destroy army formations? And just like a trebuchet, this creation looks similar to war machines of Night Watch, alas the records are old as such weapons weren't never truly needed to be used and Night Watch itself fell from its glorious days." Wolkan said and asked at the same time, looking at the drawing with interest.
"I see... And this?" Roose showed a third drawing, one that reminded him of Scorpions, the sole weapons capable of killing even the mighty dragons.
"This, milord, this seems to be other variants of Scorpions, one bigger, yet smaller than Scorpions, and thus much more feasible to build and manage, and another even smaller one that seems to be much more army useful..." There Wolkan sweated little as he looked at his lord.
"These two have names in our tongue." There Roose raised an eyebrow, he knew how much his son loved to hide his creations and letters in his infernal coded letters.
"Oh, and what are these two named then?" Wolkan looked at the drawings as he pointed to the bigger and then smaller ones, saying their names in the same order.
"Dragon slayer... And the smaller Knight slayer..." Wolkan managed to say as he dared to look at his lord and gulped as he saw the cold, unfeeling eyes of his lord looking at him.
"...I see... I hope that just like with my order to not share my son's creations to Citadel, like plows and three-way-farming, this too will not reach them." Wolkan nodded his head.
"Y-yes, milord." Roose looked at Wolkan as he nodded his head.
"My son seems to be gifted in creation or re-creation of already existing things, you will ask him in your teaching session of this, make it seem as innocent as you could, understood?" Wolkan nodded his head. "Yes, milord."
"Good, now return these drawings back to my son's chamber and do not mention this to anybody."
"Yes, milord." Wolkan quickly but carefully took back the drawings and left the solar, leaving Roose alone.
"Just what are you planning, Domeron?" Roose asked nobody particular as he was alone in the room.
But just when Roose wanted to return back to his documents, another invention of his son, this double-book-keeping, and a brilliant way to find any thieving scum whose heads were already on the pikes, there was a knock on his doors.
"Enter." Roose simply ordered as the armored man walked into the room.
"Speak." Another order, and the guard nodded.
"The newlywed Milla Stone is there for the Right-Of-The-First-Night, milord." Roose nodded his head.
"Good, leave, and send her to my chambers." Guard nodded as he left and closed the door after himself, making Roose smile...
Domeron POV
"Did your father tell you why I requested your presence there?" Eddard asked, making me nod.
"Yes, milord." I simply answered, making Eddard look at me.
"Yes, he told me of the possible marriage contract with what you wish to unite our two families," I added as my eyes looked into Eddard's.
"And, what are your thoughts on this?" Eddard asked, making me think about what to answer.
"...That, you may be too hasty, milord."
"Do you call me a rash?"
"No! I mean, no milord, it is just, your first daughter was just born, and all other children could be just boys, making marriage contract between us so soon, could lose you any potential better... Deals..." I hastily explained my mind and, at the same time, tried to play humble.
"I think that getting united with one of my strongest bannermen is a better deal than most, what can South give me than you cannot? Better deals on corn? No, I think that uniting our families could bring much better deals than any, after all, I heard that the creations and ideas that already changed our land for the better and made our farmers actually have a surplus of their food are more than any discount or price reduction I would be given in the South." Ah, so finally getting into the crux of the matter, hm?
"You heard milord?" I innocently asked.
"Who hasn't? Already my other bannermen ask me for these items and ideas that came from you originally they would ask your father, alas, he already sold me the rights of these things, not that he was given a short stick of the deal, I'm sure you know what permission I gave to your family, and what's more, I promised to make Rickard Karstark amiable to sell Bolton family his wood for discount, same goes for Umber and Glover houses, who wish to have their own plows and knowledge of three-way-farming." Ok, that, that was big, wood is something we would need in droves, especially now that we could build our own fleet, and wood was something I needed for more of my plans, so this kind of deal was good for me, even if I wanted something much more stable and permanent as Bolton own forest, something we lack in, and the few forests we have cant be cut down as that would kill most of our wild game meat...
That, and I really didn't want to make Bolton lands into even more plains, forests were needed...
After that me and Eddard had a more simple conversation, with the knowledge that I can't refuse the marriage deal, as that would hurt me more than it would hurt Stark's, plus, Arya or Sansa, I didn't mind any, at least not yet, just future would tell me if my choice was right.
After we were done speaking, a maid came to tell us it was time for lunch huh, the time flew...
In the hall, I could again see just Robb, Catelyn, who carried Sansa, and a few other's who had permission to eat there, like Maester Luwin, with who I wanted to speak, that made me remember I should look for Qyburn, I wanted him, or more likely, either I would have him, or I needed to kill him, that man was too competent for me to risk having him against me...
I needed to see if I could ask Luwin, after all, if Luwin asked me from where I heard about Qyburn, I could just say that Wolkan told me, not like Luwin could ask Wolkan about it, he could, but then, that would by a waste of raven and good paper.
After the meal, I left the hall with a smile on Catelyn, who returned me the smile with her own, but not before I heard her say, what a nice boy, I think I fared well in being seen as a good kid...
"Domeron!" I looked at Robb with a smile.
"Robb, do you want to play?" I asked, making Robb frown, but then he nodded his head.
"Yes, let's fetch Jon so he can join." I nodded my head.
"Yes, let's." I could seek out Luwin later, now was time to make connections and repair any reputation damage I had done yesterday with Robb, after all, he surely saw me more as a kid when he saw me crying, hm, should I teach him that men can cry too? At least like that, it would negate the damage somehow...
"Ah, children, there you are, why don't you join me in prayer?"
...Fucking Mordane or what her name was, I could feel the patronizing eyes and voice that reminded me of a particular pink half-blood witch toad...
Believe in what god you want, but don't fucking stick that religion into my face...