121- Swords and Rebelions.

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~~~Tywin Lannister, Eighth Moon, 277 AC~~~

~~~Hunting Camp, Crakehall~~~

"Very well, since you decided, so be it," King Jaesyrian agreed, and what choice did he have? The winner was Ser Gregor, and Ser Gregor relegated the sword to me, so he just had to accept and that was it, he had no power in the winner's decision on what he would do with the sword.

So without further ado or delay, the king spoke an order to one of his royal guards, who were different from his Blood Riders, who left, "in a few minutes the blacksmith who will forge the sword will arrive, go think about how you will want it."

Will they forge it? I had thought that the sword was ready and that they would give me one with the same details as the other four, but now, that meant they would need a forge, and they had brought with them the metal needed to make the five swords.

"Your blacksmith can make use of the smithies at Casterly Rock, the place is more than set up and well-equipped for your blacksmith to use whatever he needs," I said, hoping he would agree, so I could set up spies to document the forging process, and learn the most important things.

But my plans would not see the light of day, "that will not be necessary, Lord Tywin, we have the facilities ready in the camp, but in advance, I thank you for the gesture". King Jaesyrian replied modestly, but in the midst of that, I could see Queen Valka's eyes narrow, apparently she had understood what I wanted.

Apparently, the perspicacity of Xandarian women was not just a myth, Janna had shown me that, but the queen had understood what she wanted to get without even delaying doing so. How sad that my daughter is not like that yet, but I was sure that with Janna's help, Cersei could become a very intelligent woman.

"My King," a thick, husky voice joined the conversation, and a huge, bear-like man came to us, he had big hands, a big beard, and a patch over his left eye, and he was wearing clothes made entirely of leather, and very well-made, since they covered him perfectly, with only the skin of his forearms in the air, where you could see the odd burn scar.

"Hello Maicol, it's good to see you again," King Jaesyrian greeted the man with a big smile plastered on his face, and from what I could see, it was real, which took me by surprise. A king smiling at a new servant, the power differential between each link in the kingdom was very high, and those at the top did not gloat to those at the bottom.

But here was King Jaesyrian smiling at a smith, how peculiar.

"Likewise my king, it has been a long time since we have seen each other, I see the sword has served you faithfully," the big man spoke to the king in his Valyrian language, as he pointed to the sword lying in its scabbard on the king's hip.

"Has Maicol done it, else ask the head of Pol Qo," a joke between the two ensued, for they both laughed, along with the queen and the Blood Riders, the guards, for their part, remained as stoic as before.

The king saw that was enough fun for the moment because he became serious from one moment to the next and looked at me, "Lord Tywin, this is Maicol, he is the smith who will be in charge of forging your desired sword, tell him your tastes and the look you want on it."

"Will you stay there or will you come with me?" Maicol, what was the blacksmith's name, spoke to me, noticing how he was already several feet away from me, "King Jaesyrian." I took my leave, heading in the direction of my bounty.

.

.

.

With Maicol, we walked among the famous carriages of Xandar, human works of almost unreal structural beauty, especially with the huge beasts that pulled them, and from what Janna had told me, one of those beasts could be one of the hunting targets.

"This way Lord Tywin," Maicol led us to one of the carriages, which was made with metal walls instead of wood like the others, Maicol entered first, followed by Ser Gregor and Ser Laurent, a guard from my house, and me last.

The interior was very different from what I first assumed. Instead of the luxury and comfort that carriages had become famous for, this one looked dark, stuffy, and cramped despite being of great size inside.

There were anvils in one specific area, steel and gold armor displayed on glass shelves, swords, and weapons hung on the walls, a strange book on a block, and several furnaces and fires visible at the end of the carriage, with smoke and heat being forced out through a vent in the ceiling.

The carriage was perfectly designed to be a smithy, and I couldn't help but think of the thousands of uses something like this could represent, you could create or repair weapons and armor for soldiers in the field, without having to wait for them to be taken to the cities.

A moveable smithy would represent a superior war drive in any war, as I was currently seeing since this chariot had been brought from Xandar to the other side of the known world.

This discovery elevated my view of the Xandarian art of war and how they prepared for almost any event.

"So, how would you like your sword, any particular tome design?" Maicol began to speak, as he held a small book in his hands, with pages surprisingly white and thin, unlike the papyrus or parchment used by the maesters. "You can decide on a two-handed bastard sword, or a fine one for a woman, or even, it doesn't have to be a sword, a spear entirely made of the metal, an axe, a war hammer, or even a whip."

My house had lost its ancestral sword years ago due to the stupidity of one man to go to a cursed place in search of myths and legends, but now, my house was in the position to once again have an heirloom in its hands, and it would once again be a sword.

"Ser Laurent," I gave an order, without even deigning to say it, everyone already knew what they had to do, and wasting words on a guard was beyond expectation. Ser Laurent pulled a scroll from his doublet, then handed it to Maicol the smith.

"Very good sword, it has good size, stupendous distribution of the size of the blade relative to the hilt, and the design of the groove is well done, it was a good sword, Lord Tywin," Maicol began to praise the image of the sword, and his words filled me with pride, the scroll Ser Laurent handed him was a very detailed image of Brightroar, the ancestral sword of my house and the one that was lost.

And although I never knew it, from Maicol's words, it was an excellent sword, "its name is Brigtroar, the name the new sword will take, I wish you to make it with the same characteristics if not it is too much to ask."

"No, no problem, I will get to work right away when we return to Casterly Rock for the melee, your house will have the first Xandarian steel sword in its possessions," Maicol explained, having a very high assurance about his work, which pleased me.

"Then we are thus left," Maicol assured, and it was not enough of a farewell to imply that it was time to go, and while I wanted to know the secrets of his forge, it was not good to make trouble with the Xandarians, especially now that I had won a free sword.

"My Lord Hand," we barely walked ten yards when Varys bumped into us, and judging by his tense and calmer than usual face, something had happened. "Lord Varys."

"I have urgent news that will be of interest to you," Varys spoke in his soft, monotone tone of voice, I believed he was doing this on purpose, but to what end? Only he knew. "What is happening in the realm now? Lord Varys."

"The Reach, my lord hand, my little birds have told me that the Tyrells have banned all grain sales to the rest of the realm, instead, grain has been sold to the free cities of Pentos, Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh, as far as I know, it's due to the 'high' imposed on their grain when they can't sell it here in Westeros, but there is more pressing news."

Shit, just what we needed, the Reach was the granary of the realm, and that name was not great for it, since as its name indicated, it was the one that provided the most grain to the entire realm, the other sellers being small, like houses in the Riverlands and Dorne.

But without the possibility of buying grain from the Reach, a famine would take over the whole kingdom, with the lords having to buy grain from abroad, which would make their coffers empty enormously, the only kingdoms that would not be affected by this would be the North with its trade with Braavos and Xandar, as well as Dorne by the same factor.

As for my house, we had enough gold to buy grain abroad for something like this to worry us, but no doubt Aerys would be angry, and having watched his state these past few years since the burning of Summerhall, he may well be raising a war over this factor, especially since they deigned not to attend, even though the king himself would be coming to my wedding, which presented an insult to his image.

"The Iron Islands have stopped their raids on the Northern shores as well as Riverland, they have been busy creating more ships, and the Reach is selling them what they need", now that was worrying, that the Iron Islands were preparing for a possible rebellion, and that a kingdom like the Reach was helping it would raise the hatred of Aerys, and no doubt create war sooner rather than later.

"Keep me informed of whatever happens on those barren islands, I will speak to the king about this, also, contact Lady Olenna and let her know that these moves will only end in war and death for her house."