Chapter 19: Negotiations

Chapter Text

Aerion rode beside Willam, though his focus was mainly up looking at the skies, watching as Gaelithox circled above them.

"I must admit,I had strong doubts." Willam smiled "But as always, you have proved me wrong and claimed a dragon, an enormous one at that."

"Aye, well I have a knack for doing that." Aerion smirked

"So where did you disappear to, hm?" Willam questioned "Jory mentioned that you travelled south."

"I have been on quite the adventure, to say the least." he answered "I first made way to Dragonstone, where Gaelithox revealed a passage to the lost knowledge of Old Valyria hidden beneath the Dragonmont, you should have seen it.."

"Was it as glorious as the books say?" Willam said, bringing Aerion's thoughts back to the time he would spend days within the library reading every scroll or text relating to the Valyrians that he could.

"Oh more so, and I even found myself a blade to match Lamentation.." he revealed, tugging at his belt which held both Goldfyre and the sword gifted to him by the King.

"A sword fit for a Dragonrider." Willam chuckled.

"Agreed.."

"I am glad to finally have you back." Willam said "Together we can take back Runestone, with an army at our back and a dragon to burn our enemies alive, they will come to regret ever crossing us."

"Speaking of our northern friend, where is Jory?" Aerion asked "I would have thought he would be eager to join you in battle at Stonefort."

Aerion looked behind them as they continued on, watching as their party slowly followed, it was still a large force despite their losses being so high.

"He remained behind with Rodrik, I did not want to risk more lives." Willam answered "It is with hope he managed to make it out before the attack, or he is captured by our enemies."

"Has Roland spoke anymore of this attack?" Aerion asked "who is behind it, I want names beside this Roach person."

"Nothing, though from what it seems, it certainly is not the Lost Sons, possibly another Mercenary company from Essos."

"I do not understand why Gunthor would attempt a coup." Aerion responded "He loved my mother like a sister..he would have respected her wishes, surely…"

"The promise of power makes all manners of men commit the worst, including turning on your own kin." Willam remarked "the same is true for Arnold Arryn, who is no doubt the second man apart of this, offering land that is not his own."

"We must inform Lady Jeyne of this when we get the chance, Arnold needs to be handled before he becomes more of a problem - I will never understand why they let him out of sky cells to begin with." Aerion stated.

"The Mad Heir as they call him, will attempt anything to grasp at power, he probably convinced Lady Jeyne and her advisors that he had changed." Willam answered "the poor fool probably cried himself out of the Eyrie."

They chuckled along with each other, though Willam soon flinched and gripped the wound on his chest, his horse slowing down.

"How is it?" Aerion inquired.

"Still painful…It will take a while to heal, ofcourse, but I thank the healers for saving my life." Willam reported "They told me that I could have died had they not reached me in time."

Aerion looked at him worryingly, his eyes focused on Willam's hand as it gripped his chest.

"I am fine, I assure you."

"I regret that I was not there with you on the battlefield." Aerion admitted "This is all my fault for disappearing for days, and I fear what I would do had you been killed for my mistake."

Aerion bit his bottom lip, tightening his grip on the reins of his horse, shaking his head.

"These are not your mistakes to bear, Aerion, I made this decision and the blame for losing Runestone in the process rests on my shoulders." Willam responded.

"When we reach Runestone, we will assess the situation, and find out just exactly how many men they have within the castle, as well as who they have taken prisoner." Aerion commanded.

"That would be a wise course of action."

"Hopefully one of them will be Rodrik, for it will mean he is alive." Aerion looked down as he mentioned his name, praying that he is indeed alive.

"And Gunthor? What are we to do if he is in fact the leader of the forces there?" Willam asked.

"What else is there to do but kill him? I allowed Gerold to live, out of respect for my mother, but who will take me seriously if I let another traitor live as well? I will be a joke, he has to die…let him be an example to what will happen if anyone attempts to make a move against me…blood or not." 

There was a bite in Aerion's voice as he said it, he was sick and tired of all the betrayers, how many members of his family will he have to exile or kill before they accept his hold on Runestone.

"Something does not make sense to me." Aerion continued "The mountain clansmen accept nothing but the strength, their leaders are the strongest among them, why would they follow a weasel like Arnold? Even if he offered them lands."

"Perhaps they've finally got smart." Willem replied "It doesn't take a genius to know that if the Vale collapses into a civil war, men will die, and what would stop them from using that to their advantage by attacking whatever remains, then the Vale would be theirs, like they have always wanted."

"They are not smart enough to think of that.." Aerion then pondered for a moment "I have many questions to ask when we recapture Runestone.." 

They both continued on the road to Runestone and made camp a mile away from Castle, close enough for the enemy to see they were there and far enough away  to avoid incoming arrows.

Gaelithox continued to circle in the skies above Runestone for a few hours before settling down close to the camp, Aerion believed his presence may install some morale in the troops if they knew a dragon was on their side.

Aerion sat leaning on a tree as Willam and the officers discussed their plans to retake Runestone, listening closely to what was being said, making sure not to miss anything.

"Sers, these next few days are going to be the most difficult, food rations are low however men have been ordered to go to nearby farms and take what is available." Willam began.

He had always been the talker of the two, and knew far better how to put their plans into words than himself.

"To prevent more attacks, no more of our men will be taken from their other posts, so we must deal with what we have."

"The men we have are tired, we drove them hard during the battle, it won't be enough to take back Runestone." one of the officers replied "we can take it within the week if we pull all our forces here."

"Word has already been sent from House Redfort, they will be coming to assist us in lifting the siege, and a raven was sent to House Grafton, it is with hope that this was received and they are also sending reinforcements."

"Our first course of action is to get their attention, to see if they are willing to negotiate." he continued "We shall send an envoy to the gate, and demand a meeting with the leader."

"And is anything known of this supposed leader, ser?"

"He is believed to be Ser Gunthor Royce." His name brought discourse among the officers, some were outraged by the revelation, others weren't so convinced that a Royce would be involved.

Sers, this is not the time to argue, this is only speculation, the leader of the mercenary band told us of the involvement of someone who went by 'The Bronze Giant' he could have been lying..or it could be someone else entirely." Willam interjected into the discourse "Now..calm down.".

Aerion chuckled at the discourse taking place and received a glare from Willam, to which he just smiled at, before focusing back on the council "You're all dismissed for now."

He turned to the scout commander before he left. "Position your scouts around Runestone, see if there is a weakness in their movements that we might be able to exploit, but be careful." they all nodded their heads and left Aerion and Willam alone.

"Our men are worried…I need you to be serious, Aerion." Willam pleaded, he had looked the most serious Aerion had seen him in a while.

"You are right." he rose from the ground back onto his feet "but the war council is pointless, we have Gaelithox, one of his wings could tear down a wall, then we can move our forces in and deal with this threat."

"And in-turn leaving a major defensive weakness in Runestone for when we take it back, and what stops them from slitting Rodrik's throat if he is indeed still alive in there?" Willam questioned "A dragon can help us, but I don't believe we should use Gaelithox for the siege, it is too risky."

"Walls can be repaired, and Rodrik can take care of himself, if he is indeed captured, it is because he allowed it." Aerion replied, albeit with not much confidence "but fine we will do it your way, I will walk up to the gates of Runestone and demand an audience with their leader."

"Are you mad? They will kill you." Willam told him, though Aerion noticed he was frequently still rubbing his hand on where his wound was on his chest.

"We both know I am very much mad, and I don't think they will kill me, but if they do then I will haunt you in death." he smirked at Willam.

"I will make sure I do not anger them, and I won't go into the castle, only remain at the gate..." he went to prepare, looking back at Willam "Stop rubbing your wound, it will only hurt more and take longer to heal."

Aerion prepared himself to go to the gates of Runestone, drinking a large mug of summer wine before heading towards Gaelithox and climbing upon his back.

He thought the best way to get them to bring their leader would be to land Gaelithox directly outside the castle walls, instilling fear in the enemy.

"Time to make all our enemies fear you, Gaelithox" and with that, he spread his wings and flew up  into the skies and shortly landed outside the gate of Runestone, growling at the bowmen who looked as if they were going to shit their breeches.

Gaelithox's head was as big as the walls itself, and Aerions' eyes met one of the bowmen "I wish to speak with your leader, you have only minutes to bring him to me before I burn this castle to the ground." he threatened.

He spotted some of the bowmen making their way down into the courtyard and into the great hall once he had made his threats, and he thought it the best time to climb down from Gaelithox and wait for the leader at the gate, his hand resting on the pommel of his blade incase he was attacked.

He soon heard a voice from ramparts above the gate between the two towers "Aerion, so kind of you to join us here." and he looked upwards to spot Gunthor, and standing beside him was the treacherous snake, Gerold,  and he immediately felt rage throughout his body, gripping his blade tightly.

"You son of a whore!" Aerion shouted "I gave you mercy, and this is how you decide to repay me, Gerold, by betraying me even further, and digging yourself an even deeper grave."

The weasel was as silent as a rat, not uttering a single word in response.

"I regret that I did not shove my blade through your stomach." Aerion spat, returning his attention onto Gunthor ""And you…I can expect it from Gerold, but I always thought you the honourable one, I even looked up to you."

"It is nothing personal, lad." Gunthor said casually, though no doubt he was terrified of the dragon but refused to show it "Come inside, let us discuss how we can both benefit from this situation." 

The gates opened wide and Aerion was questioning himself whether to enter, he would be going into enemy territory but he may be able to find out if Rodrik lived, he looked back at Gaelithox, who bit his teeth at him.

"I will return." he said in the Valyrian tongue, deciding to go against his better judgement and enter the courtyard.

"On my honour you will not be harmed while inside my walls.." Gunthor shouted as he made his way down from the ramparts, the gall to suggest he had any honour was laughable, he betrayed his own kin for a chance at being Lord of Runestone.

"How can I trust a word you say? You have shown yourself to be a dishonourable fool, especially when you have rats following you around." he spat at Gunthor, glaring at Gerold "Where is Rodrik? I want to see him immediately."

"And you will, come let go see him together, he is in the great hall." they made their way to the hall and Aerion frequently looked back to Gaelithox, who was still seen staring above the walls.

"My men almost shit their breeches when they saw that dragon of yours, most have never seen one up close." he spoke to Aerion as they walked.

"And you have?" Aerion asked.

"Came face-to-face with the blood wyrm when your father first came to Runestone, thought it was gonna bite ma' head off." Gunthor chuckled, though Aerion was not having any of it, simply rolling his eyes in annoyance "We made sure their was the least amount of casualties in the assault, didn't want to kill potential allies and all."

"Why did you do it? I have done nothing to even warrant an attack from you, or do your opinions align with that of Gerold? That you should have been the Lord of Runestone." Aerion demanded to know.

"Like I said, it was nothing personal against you, I couldn't quite care who was Lord of Runestone, never interested me in the slightest; but I was told to capture it, for they fear you would be a powerful ally to Lady Jeyne." Gunthor answered

Aerion scoffed.

"Granted this was before you had a dragon, now that changes things."

"Who is 'they'? How have they managed to unite some of the mountain clans to their cause, and turned the Houses of the Vale against each other." Aerion questioned even further, hoping to get answers from him.

"All will be revealed soon.." Gunthor replied, and they made their way into the great hall of Runestone, and it had become more like a tavern, sellswords, and guards were celebrating and the banners that once laid on the wall had been torn to shreds "Sorry about the mess, we promised a feast had we taken the castle."

Rodrik laid in chains at the foot of the throne, his face bloodied and bruised, Aerion practically sprinted to him when he first saw he was injured, kneeling down "Are you okay, Rodrik?" he asked, resting his hand upon his cheek, receiving a smile from Rodrik.

"You aren't dead..we.." he looked as if he was going to break and die right there, as if life was just drained out of him and he was a shell, Aerion looked back at Gunthor with pure hatred in his eyes.

"What did you do to him?!" he yelled, and the whole hall went silent, focusing on the conflict as Aerion rose to his feet and grabbed hold of his sword "I'll kill you."

"He wasn't easy to take down…killed five of my best men, you were trained by a great warrior, I will give him credit for that." Gunthor replied "though I did not say we did not harm him, some of the men were rather upset…so one would consider this a fair enough price for the blood spilled."

"You attacked my castle, you expected him not to defend it? To stand aside as you betray your kin." Aerion questioned him "Who else have you taken prisoner?" he asked, turning his back to Gunthor and helping Rodrik up "And I want someone to rid him of these chains, right now."

Gunthor gestured towards one of his men to take the chains off from Rodrik, though ignored Aerion's question about other prisoners.

"You are an envoy and I will treat you as such, when we are done with our talks, you will be free to leave Runestone, though you will understand that Rodrik must stay, though I will ensure he is locked in his room and comes to no further harm." he scrapped a wooden chair across the floor and planted it in front of them, planting his arse on it "Everyone out." he shouted.

"You don't want to kill your kin, Gunthor, you said it yourself, you have no interest in ruling over Runestone, so why bother taking it over? Stand down and I will allow you to live."

Aerion then set his eyes once more upon Gerold.

"You will all be free to leave my lands, with no harm coming to your men." he then pointed to Gerold "But he dies…that is my price for this treason."

"While I prefer not to lay a hand on you, Aerion, Gerold is also my kin..so I can not accept this offer, and I can not abandon the cause, I have sworn an oath on my honor that I will see Arthur Arryn as Lord of the Vale." Gunthor shook his head.

"Why? What has Lady Jeyne done to you? She has been nothing but an ally to our family." Aerion replied "You would happily go and betray House Royce for a weasel who has never fought a day in his life."

"Am I betraying House Royce? The last time I checked you sung to the heavens that you were of House Targaryen, and now you have the dragon to match." Gunthor laughed.

"I can't give you Runestone, and you won't dare use your dragon, for if you do, I will be sure to kill Rodrik as you watch." 

"You'd kill him regardless, even if I were to attack without my dragon." Aerion pointed out to him.

"You're right, I would." Gunthor rose from the chair "So do not attack, leave the Vale and return to your family in Kings Landing, or cross the Narrow sea, why stay as Lord of Runestone when you could be much more with your fighting ability."

"If I allow you to keep Runestone, then my name would be tarnished, I'll be forever known as someone who lost their keep." Aerion responded, then looking to Rodrik, who still looked completely out of it, whispering in his ear "Tell me anything…"

"Don't…give…in." were the only words that left his mouth and Aerion understood them well, taking his hand off of Rodrik and walking closer to Gunthor.

"I won't yield, here are my terms, you have a day to leave my castle or I will set my army upon you, and when you have lost and the battle is over, I will feed both you and Gerold to Gaelithox…choose wisely." he was met with a laugh in his face, which truly made Aerion want to kill him there and then.

"I see…Gerold, do escort Prince Aerion from Runestone, and then see to it Rodrik is locked in his rooms for the time being. " he said looking back at Gerold, then turning to face Aerion once more "I can't accept your terms, I am afraid, but remember what I said would happen if you intend on attacking, what are you willing to sacrifice?"

He shared one final look of concern with Rodrik before being escorted by Gerold out of Runestone, they did not utter a word to each other but Gerold knew how he felt, what he would do to him if he manages to get his hands on him.

Aerion flew Gaelithox back near to the camp and it was a lot busier than before, with the banners of House Redfort now surrounding the camp, and a wide smile landed on the lips of Aerion.

He travelled to the war tent that had been set up since he was away and found Willam and Lord Redfort sitting down at a table, drinking wine and going over the siege plans.

"Lord Redfort, it is good to see you here, I am so pleased you could come to our aid." Aerion said, and Willam rose from his seat and smiled at him "Please tell me you have brought a large force with you."

"Aerion, finally you have returned." Willam said.

"Prince Aerion, your envoy was very persuasive, I have brought over a thousand men with me to aid you, I was just discussing the assault with Willam here, come sit, let us share a drink."

Lord Redfort was aged and certainly experienced, he was known for handling most of the clansmen attacks in the past, and well respected throughout the Vale.

He wore a great white furred cloak over his shoulders, and fancy clothing with his coat of arms stitched on the stomach, a red castle on a field of white, within a red embattled border.

Aerion patted Willam on the shoulder before taking a seat opposite from Lord Redfort "Now I can never say no to a drink." he chuckled, pouring his own goblet with summer wine that sat on the table, and then taking a sip "We have much to discuss."

"Are the rumours true? Gunthor has indeed taken arms up against us?" Willam asked, and it was met with a nod from Aerion, who had begun to tap his fingers on the table.

"They have Rodrik as well, he was barely conscious…the things they have done to him, they will pay with blood." Aerion struck his fist on the table.

"Rodrik is a fine man, it is a shame that he is suffering." Lord Redfort mentioned.

"We need to take back Runestone soon, and we need to do it smart." he thought for a moment, looking to Willam "When we were children, do you remember the passageway that led onto the coast? He received a nod "We should check if it has been closed off."

"And what benefit would that be to the assault?" Lord Redfort asked him.

"We could open the gates from within, it is mainly mercenaries in there, I doubt they would notice if two people disguised as sellswords were making their way around the castle." Aerion continued "The idea is..if they managed to get inside the castle, while the assault is going ahead they can open up the gates and allow our forces to enter, it would catch them off guard."

"It could work..though only a madman would actually attempt this." Willam replied "and before you offer yourself..it can't be either one of us, Gerold and Gunthor know what we look like."

"I can do it." they all turned towards the entrance to the tent, and Jory stood wth his arms crossed "They don't know me, and I have only really seen Gerold once." Aerion rose from the chair and smiled at him.

"It is good to see you were not imprisoned within Runestone." Aerion said "I cannot ask you to do this, it is not what we agreed to when I first took you into my service."

"I made sure to stay out of sight." he said "You took me into your service to protect you; which I will be doing, I am capable, no one would expect me to be there to break their defense." 

Jory was making sense, and Aerion nodded his head in agreement.

"Go prepare yourself, I will ensure someone trusted goes with you." Aerion said "You leave when the moon rises." he turned back to Willam and Lord Redfort "Now we have that handled, let us prepare for a siege.."