Chapter 20

POV Change- Lord Eddard Stark:

I've found myself questioning everything around me since arriving in the capital, to most doubtful thing here seems to be the first prince Alexander Baratheon, from everything I've heard of the man from his father he was meant to be some demon in human skin however he had honour and compassion.

From the incident on the king's road where he saved our dire wolf and was sheltering it to how he warned me from what was to come, there was none of what I was warned about. This was made all the clearer when we arrived in the capital, when the small folk gathered and surrounded the streets throwing flowers at the man and shouting his moniker 'Warlord'.

The next thing that took me by surprise was the following weeks where I had to attend Small Council meetings, despite the prince only being the 'Master of War' he seemed to control everything, from where to spend coin to creating ne projects for the crown to take care of, it seemed that although Petyr Baelish was Master of Coin all he seemed to do was hold the coin and count it.

Despite the prince warning me of how the Lannister were the ones in control all I had seen was how he was, from deciding which direction the Small Council meetings would go to how which people could get an audience with the King, everything was decided by him.

Even as hand of the king all I was told to do by him was convince Robert to sign certain decrees and issue certain directives that the realm would take, and despite going over everything the prince made get Robert to sign there were times when I couldn't tell what the point of them were only to see the drastic changes a week later. The true ruler of the 7 Kingdoms seemed to not be Robert Baratheon but Alexander Baratheon.

When I thought about the influence the prince seemed to possess here in the capital, I knew that the only one who would be able to put a stop to the wasteful expenditure of the treasury on this senseless tourney was the eldest prince. So, with my mind made up I was packing up to go find the prince.

"Lord Stark," I heard a sultry voice call from the door and there she was the woman who caused so much pain to my daughters all because she could.

"Your Grace."

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POV Change- Alexander Baratheon (18):

Things have been progressing well, I've managed to increase the wealth of the land and trade is at an all time high, with my merchants and those from the other free cities continually using my trade routes I've racked in a nice profit. The only problem being the increase in pirate activity that has managed to put a dampener on things and slightly cut into profits. But that could be solve with an increase in the escort size or an expedition into their current base of operation which if I wasn't wrong should be the Step Stones. But the most concerning point was the pirate activity around the Shield Islands, from the reports from my spies the island had more ships than was officially reported which would mean that the spare ships could be used for piracy…

Besides the good trade and slight pirate problem everything was going well in the kingdoms, everyone seemed happy and pleased with the current state of things, but I knew that was all going to change after the tourney.

Thinking of the trouble that would be coming after the tourney I had ordered Hadrian to lessen the intensity of the training my troops were currently going through and to prepare them for war at a drop of the hat. Thinking of the inconvenience caused by the pirates I thought of the perfect wat to make use of them so I ordered my merchants to start slowly decreasing trade with the lands I knew would be fighting against the Crown. Not enough to raise questions about my competency in trade but just the right amount that the focus of everyone would be on the pirate problem, this would either propel them to take matters into their own hands and have the pirates purged along with anyone conspiring with them or they would send letters to the king demanding for me to take care of the problem which would allow me to move my naval forces into prime positions to attack the Reach, Stormlands and Dragonstone while threatening the North.

But the most likely of things to happen was for the king to first belittle me in public ridiculing me and calling me incompetent and then having Stannis deal with the pirates maybe even allowing the man to increase the size of the royal navy while he was at it. A man can only hope for the best and plan for the worst, so I might have my navy in Essos sail to the Stepstones and kill everything alive then build a temporary naval fort. But that could ruin my plan of decreasing the trade of my targets…

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~Day of the tourney~

Everyone had gathered at the tourney grounds to witness the knights and brave men of Westeros compete against one another in a winner takes all, be it the jousting, archery, or the king's personal favourite the free for all.

If it was up to Lord Stark and I this tourney would never have happened yes, the man had come to find me a few days earlier to try and convince me of the wastefulness the tourney was. Now that was an amusing conversation…

~Flashback~

Lord Stark came knocking on my door when I saw the man, he looked annoyed, now usually no one would be able to tell due the man's constantly stoic expression but a surface level ligilimency probe told me all I needed to know about the man's mood.

"Lord Stark, wonderful chat with the queen I see," I greeted the man as soon as he walked in and the door closed behind him, watching his frown deepen I smiled on the inside as I continued. "She can be quit charming though I must say she is an acquired taste."

"Yes, she is an acquired taste though I have found that I have yet to acquire the fondness so many others have."

"So, what can I do for you Lord Stark?" after our greetings and pleasantries I thought it was time to get into the reason for the man's visit.

"I have come to request that you put an end to this tourney as it is nothing more than a waste of wealth that cold be put to better use."

"Believe me Lord Stark, both myself and the late Lord Arryn have tried on multiple occasions tried to make it clear to the king that the kingdoms wealth could not sustain his indulgence and that he was leading the kingdom into debt. However, like you heard in your first council meeting the king makes demands and we must do what we must to see them fulfilled."

Watching the man scrunch his face in annoyance was amusing to say the least but I could see that under all that he was just disappointed at the way his friend turned out after the long years he hasn't seen him but knowing that not even their foster father could do anything there did seem to be resignation in the man's eyes as he seemed to finally give up on rehabilitating his friend.

"Trust me Lord Stark I have done what I can to remedy the financial state of the realm and while there has been improvement I can only do so much when I am constantly having to deal with the obstacles in the form of the king and his indulgences and the nobles trying to steal the wealth of the crown."

*Sigh*" I thank you Prince Alexander for your efforts and I want you to know that I am here to help should you need it"

For the first time in a long while I gave a weak smile as I looked at the doomed soul in front of me and I thanked him for his consideration before he made his way out the door.

~Back to the tourney~

I was seated in the royal viewing stand alongside the rest of the royal family surrounded by the kingsguard but I had managed to convince my father to let Hadrian stand guard for myself so he was at my back ready and vigilant while I had sent Apollyon to the camp to take over the duties of Hadrian as well as to conduct an inspection to evaluate the quality of the men we would be leading into war.

I had Holden Cross with me instead of Apollyon so that we could deal with the Mountain when the time came, I wasn't confident in Apollyon being able to deal with the beast without killing him and had figured that Holden had the best odds of subduing the man with minimal injuries to himself and to my grandfathers most loyal bannerman.

With a calm mind I got comfortable crossing my legs and resting my head on my fist as I watched the joust with a disinterested look on my face as the whole affair bored me beyond belief. Scanning the crowd, I saw all the people of import in the capital where present all except Varys and Lord Stark while my uncle Stannis had retreated to Dragonstone some time ago.

It was finally time for the Mountains first joust, and he came riding out, the man truly was ungodly big, but Holden wasn't far off either and then came his opponent and I wondered if the big oaf was ordered to kill the squire turned knight, but a ligilimency probe only showed the man had death and violence on his mind so that was all but useless. Perhaps the poor valeman was just unlucky.

But soon the two knights had their first tilt and passed with nothing happening until the second came and the Vale knight was unseated, and screams resounded throughout the field as we watched the man choke on his own blood.

'And so, the first of many deaths to come.'