ASOIAF 3

Life in the Riverlands had settled down into a normal routine lately.

Carl's day was full of training for his future lordship. In the morning he would expend all his energy in the practice yard, mock fighting against the guards to get him ready for inevitable future war.

In the afternoon he would spend time with his father reviewing the various cases of conflict that the people brought before the Lord Paramount. Carl soon got used to using his judgment to determine the validity of the claims brought before him.

It helped Carl's case load immensely that the armsmen and guards of House Tully were good at investigating the various conflicts and providing a summary of events to the Lord Tully for judgment.

These skills of the guards made it easy for Carl to learn about the various conflicts and issues concerning his people of the Riverlands.

One of the best things that happened for Carl was that his sister Catelyn stopped being so stubborn and antagonistic against him after learning about her "friend"s plans to use her. Prior to the Baelish fiasco, his sister had been very close to Carl.

During the Baelish fiasco, his sister had been against anything he had done or said. No matter what he did, she had been antagonistic to him because of the issue left unresolved between them. It was like a fishbone stuck in the throat. Impossible to swallow, difficult to pull out.

But now that his sister's eyes were opened and her mind was no longer constrained by the blandishments of a flatterer, Carl happily spent more time with his two sisters. They were free of the rat, and their relationship was better than ever.

Carl didn't even care that his two sisters were so girly that they only pursued the womanly arts. Some of their time was spent in embroidery, some was spent reviewing the food and supply situation and learning how to manage it. Although they had very different lifestyles, Carl made sure to spend time with them every day to try to repair the damage to their relationship.

After sparring with his little brother Edmure in the morning, Carl would seek out his sisters and spend time with them. Edmure would often follow along behind Carl, so the four siblings had time to rebuild their sibling bonds during this time.

While his sisters knitted, Carl and Edmure cleaned and repaired their armor. Just like this, the relationship between the siblings became more harmonious.

At the beginning of the year 280 AC, 21 name day old Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was finally wed to 23 name day old Princess Elia Martell of Dorne.

It was a more than welcome event for various factions in the land. A basic fact of life was that the king would get old and eventually die, leaving the kingship to the next in line. The news of the no longer young prince having a spouse and working on making heirs was a comfort to all the political allies of House Targaryen.

With the announcement sent out, all the Lords Paramount and many of the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms were obligate to make the trip to Kings Landing to celebrate the wedding. Everyone had been noticing the increasingly paranoid actions of the King, and no one wanted suspicion to fall on them if they failed to act as they should.

Especially when they were celebrating the good news of House Targaryen.

Aside from survival, the gathering of nobles would allow them to make connections and allies, discuss weddings and do profitable trade.

House Tully also made the trip to the capital to congratulate their rulers. It took a couple of weeks to slowly travel to Kings Landing.

Carl finally got to see the capital where their King made his home, and it could be summed up in two words: crowded and smelly.

The whole event lasted for several days, and included all kinds of celebrations. Feasts, jousts, and balls were just some of the events. Carl made sure that his sisters and brother always had guards to escort them. It wouldn't do for something to happen to them amidst the crowds and for no one to know what happened.

There were a couple times where some minor drunk lord tried to get fresh with his sisters due to their beauty. Once Carl received the news, he planned out a suitable revenge against the drunken sots. Whether it was to organize their enemies against them, or beat the shit out of them, he was happy to do so.

A lot of their time in the capital was spent with the Starks, who had also made the trip, since the Tullys were very familiar and friendly with the Starks. Catelyn especially spent much of her time with Brandon, while Carl and Lysa acted as her chaperones, taking the opportunity to tease their sister.

Meanwhile Lyanna took the opportunity to spend time with them and tease her brother. Carl got to know the young Stark girl a bit more during this time.

Now that Carl was 16 namedays old, he very much wanted to participate in the joust and melees that were set up, but he was prohibited by Hoster. Due to there being many nobles from around the Kingdom there, Hoster was busy looking for suitable matches for his other children. As a result Carl had to make himself available and attend many a ball to get to know the eligible young women.

Carl watched as his father tried to interest Lord Lannister in betrothing his 14 nameday old daughter Cersei to Carl. But apparently Lord Lannister had greater ambitions than to wed his only daughter to Carl, the poor-compared-to-the-Lannisters heir to the "Fish Lands". While Carl was heir to the Lord Paramount of the Trident, their family wouldn't be able to add much to the Lannister's power or profit, so the betrothal didn't happen.

Aside from Lord Lannister's disinterest in the match, Carl had danced once with the young lady in question. While she seemed like any other young lady on the outside, and quite the beauty, more than anything on the inside she seemed to Carl to be a bundle of repressed emotions that was just waiting for a chance to erupt violently.

He had no idea why he felt those emotions about the young lady Lannister, but Carl headed the warning feelings and decided to avoid her in the future. Carl was secretly pleased that he wouldn't have to deal with the drama that was bound to follow her around, if his esoteric feelings were any measure of things to come.

At the end of the celebrations of the Targaryen marriage, the Tullys left to return home. Carl still didn't have a betrothal, but his father was in talks with several families. Carl was amused by his sister Lysa, who was besotted with the spectacle of knights and damsels; especially the young and dashing knights. Carl chuckled ruefully. He would have to keep on his toes to protect his sister. At least she seemed to have put the Baelish bastard behind her, thank goodness.

His brother Edmure was all the more certain that he wanted to live the life of a knight. Carl knew that a knight without land to support him was a miserable person indeed, so he was thinking of ways to make sure his brother had land to support him as a knight in the future.

Now that Carl was 16 and considered a man, his father gave him some duties. He assigned 40 guardsmen to be under Carl's command. They would travel around the Riverlands, meeting with the various nobles under their banner. Getting to know the lords, and let them know him was an important part of his duties as the future Lord Paramount. He would also be making judgments for the common folk as he passed through, so they wouldn't have to make the trip to Riverrun.

Starting at Riverrun, Carl and his troupe traveled north to Raventree Hall where they met with House Blackwood. They arrived at the Blackwood Vale, where Raventree Hall was located. Carl gazed at the tall ancient stone fortress that had square towers flanking the gates and at each of the angles of the walls. Just at first glance Carl noticed some of the weaknesses of the fortification, like not having the trees trimmed far enough back from the moat that it could give besiegers some protection from arrows fired from the walls.

Carl spent a few days with the Blackwoods, and he got to know the 10 nameday old Tytos, who was the heir to Lord Blackwood. Carl appreciated the young Tytos' enthusiasm for the martial skills, and sparred with the boy each morning, giving him tips and help on improving his swordplay.

After several days, as much as he was enjoying himself, he needed to move on. He then made his way north again, visiting with various nobles on his way. He briefly stopped in Wendish Town that was near the Oldstones Castle.

Wendish Town was ostensibly under House Darry, which was one of the prestigious houses that were giving House Tully problems over the years as they chafed at not being more important or having the title of the Lord Paramount of the Trident. The welcome in Wendish town wasn't particularly warm, but it couldn't exactly be called rude either. Carl wasn't particularly bothered to be moving on from the town after a couple of days.

As they passed by the Oldstones Castle on their way to Seagard, Carl contemplated the history of House Mudd, who had at one time succeeded in unifying most of the Riverlands. They were of the First Men and ruled for over a thousand years over the Riverlands. Then over four thousand years ago, the Andals had come. They had burned the Weirwood groves, slain the children of the forest, which were a little elf / brownie race tied to the land, and conquered the land. They then started fighting amongst each other to determine who ruled the area. Various Kings of the Trident succeeded and ruled the land until Aegon's Conquest, where the Tully's had seen the trend and jumped on the bandwagon before being destroyed. As a result of their joining the Targaryens early in the campaign, they had been given the title of Lord Paramount of the Trident.

Viewing the old ruins that many years ago was once the seat of power over the Riverlands put many ideas in Carl's head. Ideas that he didn't really like, since they would disrupt his normal life.

He was pondering if Riverrun would one day end up falling into ruins, the same as Oldstones. Carl realized that, despite the Tully's long and ancient history, any one house hadn't been able to rule the land forever. Eventually they would be taken down by enemies, or fall due to the negligence of incompetent heirs.

'But that won't happen in my time to House Tully.' Carl vowed. 'It won't happen while I still draw breath. I will work to make us strong, so we can weather the storms. And in preparation for when I die, the only thing I can do is ensure that I leave a stronger and better legacy than I inherit.'

Carl resolutely didn't look back at the ruins as he rode on.

XX

Upon arriving at Seagard, Carl was welcomed into the fortress of House Mallister. The Hallister Heir, Jason Mallister, wasn't at home at the moment. He was off participating in some tourneys in the surrounding countryside. Carl was a bit disappointed, because he had enjoyed sparring with Jason at the wedding feast, and would have liked having some more practice with the unusual techniques of Jason.

Since Jason wasn't around for Carl to spend time with, he took to wandering the town and familiarizing himself with the area while thinking about the history of Seagard. It wasn't an overly complicated history. To sum it up, Seagard was built to protect the Riverland people from the reavers of the Iron Islands, who were basically the pirates of the sea, despite having the "respectable" identity of one of the seven kingdoms.

Looking over the prosperous town, Carl came to some realizations about House Tully's position, and the cause for their lesser fortunes than other houses in the Riverlands. While it was true they were built on the Red Fork of the Trident, so they had some control over trade, it just wasn't enough to bring in wealth.

The fact of the matter was that they had a very limited control over trade from where they were positioned. To the west were the Lannisters in the Westerlands. To the east along the Red Fork was the Trident, which was a veritable marketplace of goods and services. It was a large marketplace that House Tully had only a tentative hand in managing. Which meant that other houses that were located there gained a large share of the goods and money, while House Tully basically starved from their ancestral location.

House Tully didn't have access to the sea for trade, and the amount of goods that passed along the Red Fork through their location was very limited, and could be gotten easily elsewhere.

In short, they didn't have much trade, and they didn't have exclusive control over what they did have. The other houses of the Riverlands were better situated to gain wealth, which put House Tully at a large disadvantage.

It was a very difficult problem to solve. How to maneuver House Tully into a better position, when as soon as they made moves, their rivals and enemies would immediately counter them?

Carl determined that he would continue to think on this issue as he traveled the Riverlands. Maybe something he found would give him some inspiration to work towards solving House Tully's problem.

After several days, Carl continued on his travel north. When he arrived at the Twins, he was already second guessing himself whether the visit would be worth it. Based on the stories his father told him, he knew that he would have to be on his guard against Lord Walder Frey. The older lord was always looking for excuses to force betrothals on young lords who passed through his walls. If Carl was ever at the mercy of Lord Frey, then he could expect to be pressured into a betrothal that would only benefit the Freys.

But if the Freys, and especially Lord Frey, learned that Carl had traveled past without visiting, they would obviously take offense to the slight and raise tolls in retaliation. And with the way that gossip spread, there was no way they wouldn't learn of Carl's travels, so he was stuck with making a visit to the detestable lord that spent his time crouched in the river crossing, counting tolls.

So Carl took a deep breath, girded his loins, and rode up to the entrance of the Twins.

XX

The Twins was the seat of House Frey. It was the only crossing of the Green Fork of the river for hundreds of miles. Due to the wide and wild nature of the river, there were no natural fords for people to cross. They were reliant on the manmade bridges that were available.

Carl pulled up the reigns of his horse a distance away from the Twins to gaze at the structure in contemplation. He had been studying siege warfare for the past few years, so he was especially assessing the defensive worth of the seat of House Frey.

From where he stood, he could see that there were two identical castles, one on either side of the river, with a fortified tower in the middle of the river. The castles on either side had a bridge that ran straight to the tower in the middle.

The tower in the middle of the river was built on a small island that was offset from the fortifications by 45 degrees, leaving the whole of House Frey looking like a bent leg put on its side.

Carl scowled at what he saw of the fortifications. From his studies of siege warfare, he could see how costly it would be to take the castle by force. To put the castle on either side of the river under siege would be difficult, since it would be supported by the presence of the middle island tower and the far side of the river fortification.

A successful campaign against the Twins would require an army on either side of the river at the very least. And unless there was treachery inside the fortifications, or some surprise attack to quickly open up the defenses, an unqualified success would require boats of some kind to blockade off the river itself to keep ships from sailing right up to the island in the middle and passing over supplies to keep the defenders from starving.

And that wasn't even taking into account that the twins had all the water they needed from the Green Fork itself, as well as being able to gather up fish as they pleased, which would make a protracted siege less useful. These facts meant that an actual siege of the Twins would have to by necessity be long and troublesome.

Which would allow the Tully's other enemies to get up to mischief behind his armies. While focused on the Twins, if they didn't have other forces pacifying the land behind them, the various Lords could make a huge racket in the land, forcing their forces to fail at the siege.

A direct assault of the well fortified seat of House Frey would be very costly in men's lives. The two castles were well fortified, and would be difficult to breach.

And a protracted siege to starve them out would be very costly and ultimately a failure.

It was truly a headache for House Tully to have no decent way to deal with House Frey and put them in their place. But on the other hand, since House Frey was only strong at their House's seat at the Twins, House Frey had no real way to influence outside events other than to control the toll of passing through the bridge.

So there was pluses and minuses to the presence of House Frey, which was par for the course of politics.

The bridge connecting the two sides of the river itself was only wide enough for two carts to comfortably pass by, which limited the number of men able to pass over the bridge at any one time.

This also made it so that an assaulting force couldn't gather a large group of men to overwhelm the defenders. It left the narrow avenue of assault as easy pickings for the archers from the fortified tower in the center island. And since each of the fortifications were completely self sufficient for the most part, it would require three bloody assaults to completely take the whole thing from one direction.

To add insult to injury, the Twins was astride the only direct route between Riverrun and Winterfell. To send a caravan between Riverrun and Winterfell by a circuitous route was just as expensive and took more time than to just pay the toll at the Twins. This was evidence of the calculating nature of the Lord Frey. If the toll to cross the river rose above the cost of the roundabout route, then they would spend the time necessary to go a different route. But the toll was calculated to be heavy but barely bearable.

But in Carl's mind, the heavy tolls extracted by Lord Frey on the caravans traveling between the two cities was one of the direct reasons the Tullys weren't as prosperous as they should be, and that food shipped to the North vastly more costly than it should be. The Freys were using their unique position to skin the Tullys of any profit they may make. House Tully was barely surviving as it was, and for the Freys to take such a large margin of profit from them when they were vulnerable made the Freys opponents and enemies of House Tully.

All these facts were on Carl's mind when he rode towards the Twins.

Upon arriving at the western castle, Carl and his men were faced with a passel of Frey's get. Their narrow shoulders, weak chins, and large noses gave them away. Maybe if they travelled away from the area no one would be able to instantly recognize them as a Frey. But here at the Twins, they were obviously members of House Frey.

One of the Frey's approached Carl and his men and gave them an assessing look. No doubt judging how much they could charge. Carl stared the man in the eyes, judging his character in turn.

"That'll be 1 silver stag a man." He said in a whining voice.

Carl narrowed his eyes as he realized the man had lied to him. The "fee" for crossing he was gathering here was to line his own pocket. The actual official fee for crossing was taken by someone else in the tower in the middle of the river.

"No, I think we'll pay the fee to the proper supervisor." Carl announced with a glare, daring the man to carry out his fleecing operation.

The scowl on the Frey's face gave Carl a bit of amusement. If the Frey get tried get offended about it and refuse them passage, then Carl could ride away with a clear conscience and spread the story of just why the Tully heir hadn't paid Lord Frey a visit.

Obviously this little Frey rat hadn't recognized exactly who Carl was. He had just seen the rich clothes that Carl and his guards wore and wanted to extort a bit of silver for his profit.

"Besides, we're not here just for the crossing. I am Carl Tully, here to visit Lord Frey." Carl added when the Frey paused for too long while thinking. While Carl was more than happy to have an excuse to excoriate the Frey Lord, he couldn't neglect the basics, or he would be the one to be criticized by their fellow lords.

The rat Frey scowled, but no longer obstructed them and let them pass by. They soon met the actual supervisor who collected fees, and it ended up being three silver stags per man for the actual crossing. Carl knew that complaining about the fees wouldn't do him any good, and would just raise the price.

The various lords of the Riverlands, the North, and everyone else in Westeros had been complaining for years about the Freys. At this point, everyone knew that a trip through the Twins required good silver to be thrown away.

Carl paid the price with anger and fire in his heart, but an outwardly calm face. He would one day get revenge against these overly greedy bastards.

His group was passed through the western castle. They walked their horses over the bridge to prevent any kind of accident. If the horses spooked and went over the bridge into the river, they would take their rider with them if they were ridden. So Carl's group walked beside the horses to avoid accidents.

They soon passed through the fortified tower, and on to the eastern castle. Carl's sharp eyes were making note of everything he saw, remembering it for later in case he ever needed to take action against the Freys.

It didn't take long before Carl and four of his guards were brought in to Lord Frey's audience hall. The rest of his guards stayed with the horses, waiting for them.

This was an "audience" that Carl Tully had expected ever since he arrived here.

Carl entered the hall and looked over the set up. There were windows high up that let in a small amount of sunlight, while candles were placed on the table in front of Lord Frey. The "throne" was set on a raised dais that looked over the hall. Carl noticed there weren't any seats for guests, giving them the impression that they were petitioners to the Lord who sat up on high.

Carl snorted inside at the psychological ploy that Old Frey committed to here. Even for the heir of the Lord Paramount of the Trident, Old Frey was trying to play his mind tricks on him.

There were rows of tables and chairs to either side of Lord Frey's seating that held a number of his children and grandchildren. Carl noted that it mimicked the appearance of a King holding court, and Frey's progeny were the courtiers.

The babble of the Freys in the wings filled the hall. Carl's enhanced hearing clearly heard the words they said. Carl ignored the rabble though, since what they gabbled about didn't matter to him.

As Carl looked at Walder Frey sitting on the throne, Carl made a special note to himself not to fall for the mind games ploy of thinking he was beseeching anything of Frey, so as not to lose the advantage. So many people of lesser minds that were ushered into the room would fall into the rhythm of the Freys and give into their delusion.

But Carl wasn't here to ask anything of the old lord. He was simply passing by and giving greetings to the old man before making his way to his destination.

Those people who fell into the mindset the Frey's wanted would be beseeching the Lord Frey for his help. They would start out by owing Frey the honor of seeing them, and swiftly fall into debt by their lackluster negotiations. It was a clever stratagem the old man played.

Carl could see how the ploy was useful, but only felt contempt for the older man who needed to employ such stratagems to come out ahead. Instead of being an upright individual, Old Frey was an overly clever man who took advantage of others.

"Ahh, if it isn't the young trout." Walder announced when Carl got close enough. Carl didn't stop at the expected "beseecher" position though, and walked right up to Frey, looking the old man over just as he looked over Carl.

"And if it isn't the old tower guard." Carl finally replied in a faint disassociated voice. If Frey wasn't going to give Carl the respect of a title and proper address, then Carl would play his game by not giving Frey the proper respect.

"That's Lord Frey to you." Walder snapped at Carl, instantly revealing how much he was annoyed by Carl's ploys. "You weren't even a swimmer in your grandpa's trousers when I was already a Lord. Proper honor should be paid to those how earned it!" The old man self righteously proclaimed.

Carl casually shrugged at Frey from only five feet away. "Oh, it's like that then. Based on your initial greeting I thought we were being informal and friendly like, since you called me a "young trout", instead of my own name and title of Heir Tully."

The "ignorance" that Carl affected, combined with the actual knowledge served to make the old Lord Frey unsure of just how to reply to the young man. The young Tully heir wasn't following the script that all the other supplicants had and seeking his approval, so Old Frey was spending a lot of brain power trying to figure out how to grab a handle on the young lord.

Meanwhile Carl was doing his best while standing so close to the old man to ignore how the old man was rubbing up the ass of his latest timid young wife. Carl figured the old man was likely doing it just to get a rise out of him. So much of "Lord Frey's" actions seemed to be calculated that Carl didn't bother to differentiate between his genuine and affected actions. He assumed anything was meant to get Carl to lose his composure which would give the old man an angle to exploit. So he worked on not giving any advantages away.

"I was just passing through and thought I would give greetings to you Lord Frey. Well, now that I've greeted you, I think I'll be on my way." Carl nonchalantly began walking away without a hint of staying in his bearing.

"I didn't dismiss you yet, boy!" Walder snapped in anger, having been provoked by Carl's attitude of not giving him respect. "I still have business with you."

Carl paused and turned around, giving the 78 nameday old man a deep look. "Oh really? And what might that business be? If I'm not mistaken, you sent no letters to me, requesting a meeting." Carl paused while watching the red color due to unspent anger crawling up Old Frey's face.

"In fact, I'm just passing through the area and came here to give my respects to a lord of your stature. But I've got places to go and see. You know how us young people are, always on the go." Carl casually eyed the old lord and his retinue, giving the old man the impression that he didn't respect him, which was actually a true impression.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure there is some young whore you've just got to visit." Carl snorted at the attitude the old man displayed. "But I know your father is having a hard time finding you a wife. So I thought I'd just offer you one of my daughters or granddaughters to save you the time of looking."

Carl chuckled a bit at how "magnanimous" the old lord was acting on his behalf. "While I appreciate your thoughtfulness, I'm not prepared at this time to commit to marriage. Thank you for your time, Lord Frey."

And Carl turned around and departed the hall, ignoring the yells and glares sent his way from Old Frey. He rejoined the rest of his men and continued traveling east, where they would meet up with the kingsroad.

As they travelled and met more lords on their way, Carl pondered the issue of the Freys, the Darrys, and the other enemies of his family.

From his short meeting with Walder Frey, he had gleaned a lot of information. One of his talents that had shown up in recent years was the ability to read the intentions and even some of the thoughts of people he faced.

One of the things he learned while facing the old lord was that the Frey's high tolls was deliberately set up to weaken the Tullys, not just because Frey was greedy. One of the major travel routes that the Tullys used to exchange goods with the Starks passed right through the Twins.

The other big thing Carl learned was that Walder Frey truly hated the Tullys and was plotting and waiting for an opportunity to end the Tully's rule of Riverrun. It wouldn't have mattered if Carl had been the most polite and accommodating person around, Frey already hated him just for being a Tully.

The only thing keeping the old man back from attacking Carl was the repercussions from the rest of the loyal Tully banner houses. If he was too open in his attack then hordes of fighters would come to attack the Freys. So the old lord acted in a clever manner to avoid the anger of the masses and any repercussions from blatantly attacking. He stuck to his M.O. of sneakily making things difficult for House Tully.

But Carl knew that, given the chance, Frey would do anything to hurt the Tully's interests.

After learning that bit of knowledge, Carl was more determined to destroy the Freys in order to secure the rule of the Tullys. A scorpion held in the breast would eventually sting them, so he wanted to get rid of the scorpion for good.

As Carl continued travelling around the Riverlands, he discovered that the Darrys were another family that seemed to hold the Tullys in contempt and would gladly help them fall.

So while not all of their bannerhouses were necessarily against House Tully, Carl cme to the realization that there were a few that were. A few of them would do almost anything to pull down the Tullys.

With that realization, Carl spent some time thinking about what he could do to strengthen House Tully and weaken their opponents at the same time. A lot of what he considered doing, he wouldn't be able to implement for years. Either because of lack of funds, or because he wasn't the Lord Paramount, with the authority to implement certain policies.

Many of the plans that Carl thought up were thrown to the back of his mind. Later on, he might revisit them, when he could do something about it. For now, Carl focused on getting a decent impression of each of the lords that he would be interacting with in the future.

XX

Towards the end of 280 AC word was spread around the country that Prince Rhaegar and Princess Elia had a daughter born to them at Dragonstone.

Shortly after the news of the birth of the new princess Rhaenys, while Carl was still touring the Riverlands, he received word that Lord Whent would be holding a massive tournament at Harrenhal in the middle of 281 AC. It was a must attend event. The winning prizes announced were three times greater than the tourney that was held in honor of Prince Viserys' birth, totally throwing the various people into a frenzy.

Carl was also pretty excited about the tourney. He would finally be able to compete and show just how good he was. And with the high prize, there were sure to be competitors coming who could actually challenge him!

He continued his journey, adjusting the route so he would arrive at Harrenhal in time for the announced tourney.

A few weeks later he met up with his family as they were making their way to Harrenhal. He was happy to greet his siblings, not having seen them for many months as he traveled the Riverlands.

"Carl!" Catelyn and Lysa called from their carriage when they saw Carl had arrived at their caravan. The two girls were on the verge of jumping off their carriage to greet their brother, which amused Carl greatly. Seeing how much his sisters cared for him improved Carl's mood greatly.

"Hello there, beautiful sisters. And how is your day?" Carl asked with a smile as he dismounted his horse and hopped in the carriage to chat with his sisters. Just because his sisters were willing to jump away from their carriage didn't mean he, as a brother would let them.

He was amused over the chatter of his sisters as they talked about the tournament they were going to watch, and how excited they were. Carl just sat back and enjoyed the feeling of being with family once more.

He took note, though, of how much his sisters were talking about handsome and chivalrous young men. Carl would have to pay a visit to these "noteworthy" young men and make sure they were well behaved. If they refused, then some kneecaps would need to be adjusted.

After having traveled around the Riverlands and seen how little his family mattered to the various Lords, Carl was more and more appreciative of his family and how much they cared for eachother. He was more determined to protect them in the future, no matter what happened.

After a few days of travel, they finally arrived at Harrenhal. The castle was massive, with five large towers that rose to great heights, plainly visible from the tourney grounds. The tourney grounds were already set up and flooded with people, with so many people eager to join in the pageantry.

Seeing the flood of people, Carl was prepared to dive in and get to know the people. But his family matters stopped him from acting too impulsively.

Carl was still feeling a bit upset due to his father laying down the law and dictating that he could only pick one competition to participate in, either the joust or the melee due to the need to circulate and participate in politics and finding their house Allies to help them. And maybe a marriage was in the works for Carl, which was all arranged by his father.

Despite being exasperated by his father's meddling, Carl was still mostly obedient to his family's rules and needs.

Carl chose the melee to participate in, since he was so much better at the sword than the joust.

The tourney started as a particularly fun and a good party for all. He and his family spent plenty of time with the Starks and other allies.

Later on in the joust, while Carl was watching the contest, he was amused to see a nameless knight show up and challenge three knights to a joust with their gear on the line. One was a knight of House Frey, another of House Blount of the Crownlands, and the third was from House Haigh, who were vassals of House Frey.

Carl was cracking up because with his sharp eyesight he could see that the knight was Lyanna Stark. He could see beyond her disguise and armor. From what he could gather, one of her father's bannermen had been ganged up on and humiliated by the squires of the knights she called out for retribution. Carl heard the gossip from his men, which enlightened him as to what Lyanna was doing.

Lyanna actually handily won, chastised the defeated knights and got them to chastise their squires as ransom for their armor.

Carl wasn't too sad to see House Frey's knights being humiliated. He felt that despite the fact that they were a banner house, they were more akin to a scorpion that would betray them given the opportunity.

The only thing that put a damper on Carl's humor was seeing from afar the madness growing in the King as he went on and on about the mysterious knight with the tree with a laughing face on it as their sigil was his enemy, and they were laughing at him. The king ordered his people to find and bring his enemy to him for execution.

The next day when Carl saw Lyanna in the area, safe and sound, he was relieved. He picked up a couple of wine goblets and handed one to her.

"Cheers, Lyanna. I'm glad to see you were so successful in chastising some oafs and got away with it." Carl murmured softly so no one else would hear. "But be careful who you tell. The King was sure that the unnamed knight was his enemy and laughing at him. You don't want the entire army trying to execute you." Carl warned her with a smile to mask the seriousness of his message to her.

Lyanna took a sip of the drink, and smiled winningly at Carl.

"There's no way for me to be caught! The idiots have no idea!" She declared, which caused Carl to laugh at her temerity.

Carl saw a small boy headed close to the two of them, ostensibly to clean up around them, but Carl saw that the little boy was paying close attention and memorizing what people around him were saying.

"So, are you going to cheer me on in the melee tomorrow Lynna?" Carl interrupted whatever she was going to say with a warning look. "I'm afraid it was the only event my father would let me participate in, other than the event of trying to find me a wife."

Lyanna scoffed at Carl. "Hah! Who wants to marry! I have too much fun riding and practicing." She said with much bravado.

Carl noticed the little boy had moved away without hearing anything important, so he sighed in relief. When he noticed Lyanna looking at him like he was weird, he explained. "The little page looked to be some kind of spy. I didn't want him to hear anything important. Like your little fun yesterday."

"Thanks. I really didn't expect there to be so many problems because of that." She frowned and bit her lip in worry. "The king…"

Carl gestured her to stop. "Even when no one is listening, some words are best not spoken. Just don't tell anyone, and it should be fine. If they didn't catch you so far, they shouldn't have any clues to go on."

"But how did you figure it out?" She worriedly asked, thinking someone might have seen the same thing Carl did.

"My eyes are extraordinarily sharp, and I don't forget anything, my dear Northern Wolf." Carl chuckled. "If I didn't recognize the moves you used on me back at Riverrun, then I would be a dead stump."

At that reminder of how she tricked and unseated him in their previous practice, Lyanna smiled in amusement. "And you got me back with that damnably quick sword of yours."

They shared a smile at the memory and continued chatting as the day wore on.

XX

The next day Carl was eager to see how he fared in the melee. He donned his armor and mounted his horse, guiding it to the starting area. Off to the side were the seats for the viewers, while all around the enormous clearing the participants were spread out in a circle.

Carl looked around and saw many other eager knights grinning in anticipation, or looking nervous. The massive horde of participants were waiting for the signal. Only a few moments later, the horn was blown.

Carl drew his sword and kicked his horse into motion. In some of the melee events there were no rules, and the knights would start off with lances, but in this particular event lances were prohibited.

Out of the corner of his eye, Carl saw some of the nearby participants suddenly veer his way, apparently attempting to take him by surprise, thinking he was a green knight who would have gotten tunnel vision and only seen what was in front of him.

He waited until the last moment, before pulling the reins to the side. His horse followed the commands and he closed with his opponent before he expected to, coming inside his wide swing. Carl began with a quick chop to the arm, and succeeded in breaking it from the sound of impact. The knight fell off his horse in a heap on the ground.

Carl didn't let him go, but leaned down and held his sword at the knight's throat just as he was about to sit up. "Do you surrender, ser?"

"Yes, damn you!" Was the answer Carl was hoping for.

Carl signaled his people who were waiting off to the side, and they came and gathered the knight. Every knight that Carl "captured" would provide him with a ransom to keep their armor.

Returning his attention back to the melee just in time to block a blow at his head, Carl laughed in high spirits. Like he wouldn't have heard the sound of the horse galloping his way!

Carl began exchanging blows with the man who wore yellow and black, his sword in motion blocking each blow as the knight attempted to cause bruises or broken bones through his armor. Carl easily blocked his moves, and pulled back on his horses reins, getting his horse to back up a bit like he was being overwhelmed.

Once the knight pushed the offensive, Carl had his horse sidestep, putting the knight off balance, and Carl took advantage of the moment and bashed him in the helmet, knocking him askew. Not giving him a chance to recover, Carl rained down blows and knocked him out, judging from the limp way he collapsed.

Carl gave the signal to his men once more to gather up another one, and turned to the melee to see who his next target was.

Spurring his horse on, he next targeted a knight in green and blue who was spending too much time looking around. The knight heard his galloping horse and turned to face Carl. Just as he was about to spur his horse to meet Carl, a blade was swung on his blind side and knocked him over.

Carl immediately changed targets to the knight in red who had taken his target and began exchanging blows. This one was very skilled, and Carl was just getting into the fight, when he noticed his opponent gave a signal. Carl immediately threw himself to the side, almost unseating himself, but dodged the blow with a mace that would have brained him.

He gritted his teeth in anger, since being brained with a mace could potentially kill him if it hit hard enough.

Carl quickly pulled himself back to his saddle while urging his horse to give him some room to react to the double threat. The two knights kept on opposites sides from Carl, causing him to split his attention. He happened to notice that the knight that tried to brain him was from a house that owed allegiance to House Frey, which caused his anger to rise.

He feinted like he was going to attack the first knight in red, but dropped his reins and took a two handed grip on his bastard sword and charged the mace wielding knight, lashing out in a powerful blow that he tried to block, but Carl kept the blows coming, and after the third blow succeeded in slipping his sword under the man's block and into his armpit at an unarmored part. If the Frey's knight wanted to brain him to death, he would give him what he tried to give Carl.

Pulling his bloodied sword out of the knights body, he managed to block the blow the first knight sent his way, ignoring the screams of rage and promises of vengeance.

'Shouldn't have tried to murder me, then should you, ya bastard?' Carl thought as he struggled to keep his guard up under the knight's crazy assault.

A horse then charged in and brained the knight in red before Carl could counterattack. Looking over, Carl saw Robert Baratheon with his warhammer raised high, saluting Carl.

"Having fun there, Carl?!" Robert boisterously called.

Carl laughed and saluted him back. "But of course! My blood is practically singing!"

The two of them laughed again before the both of them turned away to find more knights to fight.

The melee continued on in that vein, as Carl got progressively more beaten and bruised, but kept his horse and captured several more knights.

Eventually it was just him and Robert left in the melee. He didn't even feel tired, and he could see that Robert also felt in fine spirits. The two of them continued circling each other, raining blows down on each other.

Carl had to work hard to divert that nasty massive hammer away from him, while striking hard enough to hopefully rock Robert and keep him off balance.

Finally Carl got a good hit on Robert's forearm, enough to cause him to lose control of his hammer for long enough for Carl to unseat him. Carl knew that Robert didn't hold a grudge when he heard the bark of laughter, followed by the exclamation "Damn, you clever bastard!"

The past year Robert had thought it a funny thing to say to Carl because of his use of bastard swords and that he was very smart. Carl had just chuckled at the exclamation, having gotten used to the bluster that Robert liked to employ as humor.

Carl dismounted once he knew he won and helped Robert to his feet, laughing along with the larger man.

"That was a close one. Could have gone either way, really." Carl commented.

"Aye, that it could. But damn was that fun!" Robert grinned back at Carl as the two grabbed their horses and mounted up to ride up to the stands for the announcement of the winner.

Carl saw his family up in the stands, on their feet as they cheered his victory. He grinned and waved up at them cheerily.

The next bit passed by quickly, as Carl received his award, 20,000 gold dragons for winning the melee. Carl laughingly promised to take Robert drinking sometime later as a consolation for coming in second.

Carl then departed to get cleaned up and dressed for the evening's feast and dancing.

XX

The next day was the final day of the joust. Carl was sitting up in the stands with his family next to the Starks, Baratheons, and Jon Arryn. They were having a good time, eating snacks and sharing gossip.

They watched the final rounds, as more knights were eliminated. It was a good showing, even though Carl wished his father allowed him to enter the joust as well instead of engaging in politics.

Eventually the finale was announced. The final tilt consisted of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen against Ser Barristan Selmy. Prince Rhaegar wore the red and black of his house colors, while Ser Selmy wore the white of the Kingsguard.

The first several passes were basically ties, both breaking lances on the other's shields. In the sixth pass Prince Rhaegar managed to stun Ser Selmy. But the next round Ser Selmy managed to rally and get a good hit against the prince, making it a tie once more. The eighth pass though saw Prince Rhaegar's victory as he unhorsed Ser Selmy, winning the joust.

After everything was settled down, Prince Rhaegar was handed the crown of blue winter roses to crown his Queen of Love and Beauty. Everyone expected Prince Rhaegar to crown his wife, Princess Elia. But everyone watched in shock as Prince Rhaegar rode past his pregnant wife and approached the Starks. Before anyone could react, Prince Rhaegar had placed the crown in Lyanna's lap.

Carl scowled at the Prince for doing such a dishonorable thing. Not only was Lyanna only 15 namedays old, she had just recently become betrothed to Robert Baratheon. It had been announced at the beginning of the tourney.

Passing the flowery crown to Lyanna was a slap in the face to not just Princess Elia Martell, but also to Robert Baratheon and the Starks.

Carl looked over at the Martells and saw their faces were ugly with anger at the Prince's actions that dishonored their sister. Princess Elia, on the other hand, just looked resigned to her fate.

Robert was cursing up a storm nearby, furious that the crown prince had moved in on his woman.

The King was glaring between Prince Rhaegar, the Starks, the Tullys, and everyone else nearby, obviously suspicious that they were conspiring against him.

Everyone was whispering at the drama.

Prince Rhaegar was ignoring everything around him and giving flirtatious looks at Lyanna.

And Lyanna was blushing.

'There really is no fixing this.' Carl thought as he looked around at the various groups. He looked over at the Starks and saw the same realization on Lord Starks face. He then looked at his own father, and saw the worry on his face. The two families stood up and started to depart the area. The Starks closed ranks around Lyanna and escorted her out.

Carl had no idea what would come of this unruly act by the Prince, but it couldn't possibly be good. Putting aside the political repercussions for the time being, Carl escorted his own sisters away from the tourney. He was just glad in a way that it wasn't his own sisters that the Prince had chosen to single out in front of everyone.

XX

Carl stayed home at Riverrun with his family as things seemed to be spiraling out of control in many ways. It seemed like every month they began hearing how the King was coming unglued with paranoia. One week he suspected his own son and Heir of conspiring against him, and banished him to Dragonstone. The next he was summoned back to be a prisoner at Redstone Keep in Kings Landing.

At the end of the year 281 AC Princess Elia gave birth to a son, Prince Aegon. She reportedly had a hard labor, and barely survived.

Early in the year 282 AC Prince Rhaegar left Dragonstone with some companions, and no one knew where he was going, but his father, King Aerys II was going mad with suspicion.

Meanwhile, Carl's family was preparing for the wedding of Catelyn and Brandon Stark. They would hold the wedding at Riverrun the week after Catelyn turned 18 namedays old. Carl was hoping that the tense situation between the King and his heir didn't spill over onto them, especially just as his sister was about to be married.

Suddenly more news spread out. Prince Rhaegar had kidnapped Lyanna Stark, intending to marry her as his new bride despite the opinions against it.

Carl was feeling really pissed at the Prince now. How dare he do that to his friend, and Robert's betrothed? If he wanted a piece of tail, there were plenty of whores who would happily fill his bed. Why would he go out of his way to kidnap Lyanna?

More bad news arrived soon after. Brandon Stark had been on the way to Riverrun for his wedding when he got word of the kidnapping. Assuming that Prince Rhaegar had brought Lyanna back to Kings Landing, he changed directions and was soon outside the Red Keep, demanding Prince Rhaegar come out to meet his sword in combat.

The overly paranoid Mad King had not reacted well and had Brandon arrested. Lord Rickard Stark also diverted to Kings Landing with 200 of his men. He tried everything he could get Brandon freed. Eventually the King agreed to a trial by combat for the life of Rickard's son.

The Mad King had agreed, but when Lord Stark showed up in his armor and sword to fight the named champion, the King had his guards capture Lord Stark and hang him over a fire. The King announced that his opponent would be the Targaryen Flames.

And while Lord Stark was roasting alive in his armor, Brandon had been tied up with a rope around his neck, with a sword just out of his reach and a promise that if Brandon could reach the sword and free himself and his father, they could live. Brandon struggled so hard to reach the sword, he strangled himself to death while his father roasted alive.

The news of the Starks' grizzly deaths had just arrived and Carl was holding his twin as she broke down in tears after hearing how her betrothed died. It took some time for him to calm her down and put her to bed.

The worst news that had sped out from Kings Landing was that the King wasn't satisfied with having killed the Lord Paramount of the North and his heir. He was demanding that Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon be brought to him for judgment as traitors, as well as demanding their whole family of traitors be executed.

The King had finally gone completely mad.

Eddard and Robert refused to submit to the mad king, rightly thinking that the King would simply kill them if they did. Jon Arryn had also declared his side of the fight. He would fight the king alongside Baratheon and Stark.

He hadn't spent more than 10 years raising the Baratheon and Stark lads only to see them executed by a mad king's decree.

Carl was all for standing with their friends and allies against the madness of the king. Even if they abandoned their allies and were able to stand by in the coming war, who was to say the King wouldn't have them killed next?

But his father had been saying that he would only join the rebellion if Eddard stepped in and filled the marriage contract with the Starks, marrying Eddard to Catelyn.

Hostar claimed that Eddard Stark would have to wed Catelyn to secure the alliance. Carl gritted his teeth at that bit of stubbornness. Cat had just lost her betrothed. She wasn't in any state to get married so soon, despite Hostar's claims.

Besides, it was inevitable that the paranoid mad King would cast his eye on House Tully eventually, especially after they joined House Stark in the Rebellion. They had been on the verge of marrying a daughter of House Tully to House Stark, after all. It would put a target on their backs for the King.

Carl groaned in dismay, thinking about how everything seemed to be spiraling out of control. War was upon them, and it made his blood chill. He had no fear of the battlefield, but a rebellion like this was another matter. Who knows how long it would go on? How many of their own bannermen would be turning their hand against them?

He made his way to the battlement, looking out over the river and forest surrounding his home. He wondered what the world would look like in the morning. What more news would come in by raven. Could the world get any crazier?

And then the time ticked over into the new day. It was Carl's 18th birthday and he remembered.

He remembered.