Rebellion part 3

A few days after the taking of Gulltown Robert was making his way to the stormlands to gather his forces, Ned was bringing his host south, Jon was going west to the Riverlands, where he would join troops with Ned and try to make Hoster support his cause, with that they could directly march on the crownlands, their army would be massive in comparison and the war would end swiftly, by the time Dorne or even the Reach could send reinforcements it would be too late, and Max was already halfway with his troops, passing by the stormlands, it would take just a few more days to reach the vale, although they could land in the stormlands it would be too dangerous since who knows if the lords of the stormlands would reconsider their loyalties and besides they still need to negotiate the terms of their participation in this war, they weren't going to fight for free.

Max was in his room in the ship waiting for Aurelius to come and discuss some things when a shadow suddenly took from behind him revealing Aurelius and as if expecting this Max just turned around with an indifferent face but his eyes had a dangerous glint in them.

"So, are you finally telling me what did you find a master? Or are you just going to keep me guessing?". Asked Max, his voice impassive but you could see a few veins popping in his neck.

"Why are you so angry? I barely see you being truly angry, don't you believe in me anymore?" Said Aurelius.

"Why am I angry? You convinced me to gather our troops and came to fight a battle that has nothing to do with our people, I believed in you blindly and even after all this time you still don't explain to me why we are doing this, you just said this is what's best for our people in the long run but you don't care enough to tell me why, you are my master and I respect you but I don't like being led by the nose, I know you told mother because she wouldn't lend you our troops without a good explanation so tell me why I'm lying to our people". Said Max with a sharp look in his eyes.

"I can't say I don't like the way you act, you are finally starting to act like a ruler. Your mother agreed to this for what we found in the ruins of Valyria, apart from swords we found some books, you see, some of them detailed construction methods, others how to build ships, even how to forge and reforge their weapons, we just started studying them, but the ones we are more interested in are the ones of blood magic but those are sealed and it doesn't matter what we did we couldn't open it, but we know the method for opening them, we need the blood from Valyria, that what's stated in one of the books, I investigated and the Targaryens are descendants of nobles from Valyria, their blood is the key to get those books, when they die I will take their bodies alongside the bones of their dragons and use them in a ritual to try to open the books, who knows what secrets they might hold inside". Said Aurelius saying the last part with obvious excitement in his voice.

"Tell me something, the one who is speaking is my counselor, the man that always told me to put the needs of my people over everything else including my own or is my master, the man that would do anything to gain more knowledge?" Asked Max while staring directly at Aurelius.

Aurelius excitement disappeared at that moment, like foam before a sea breeze, he took some time to answer but in the end he said "Both, I'm the same man not matter what, you know that knowledge is power, and without power we can protect our people, the world is a dark place and when the beast that inhabits there see light they lunge at you and try to rip you apart, if we want a better future for our people we need the strength to protect it, I know you are skeptic but if we could get the secrets of how they create dragons and take them the possibilities are endless, even though we can tame beast with a blood pact you know we can only do that with the weaker ones, the ones that are more savage and powerful are impossible to tame with our methods, I know you would rather wait in our home till the emperor make a decision, even when we know which decision is the one he will make, but we need to do this, opportunities like this don't come twice".

"Sight, we are already here, we are going to continue with the plan, I just hope we don't do this for nothing" Said Max while preparing to leave. "But I hope it is the last time you hide something from me, I don't care if it's my mother the one who said you should". Said Max without even looking at Aurelius and then leaving.

"He will make a fine emperor some day, it's good to know that I didn't waste my time". Murmured Aurelius before leaving too.

After leaving Max went searching for Cassius and Cato, he felt the need to tell them the truth or at least part of it, they were his most trusted generals, if he didn't share his plan and the reason behind them with them then with who?. He found them shortly after and brought them to a room.

"I know you don't like what we are doing and you need to know that I too disagree with this, but there's a reason why this is necessary and why I can't tell you our true objective, and I hope you don't lose your faith, this is for the sake of our people and is way more important than what I said earlier". Said Max with a gentle tone in his voice, the truth is that he felt that he owe them an explanation but it would be better if no one besides, Aurelius, Max's mother and Max himself knew the true reason behind their support of the rebels, especially Cassius his sense of honor is too much sometimes and he would be against taking the corpse of a fallen warrior and using it in a ritual, Max knew this because he felt the same, they don't do this kind of things, profaning the death is something that was against his beliefs but if it gave them the power to protect their people he was willing to use the corpses of all the Targaryens if it was necessary.

Hearing this the twins looked at each other and then at Max, Cato the always silent just nodded his head slowly while his brother spoke: "we understand, if you can't speak to us about it we will prove that we deserve your unconditional trust". It was all he said, Max didn't know how he should feel about it, he felt bad about hiding things from his men but he knew that while Cato was a silent man that barely speaks even while drunk his brother was different, Cassius no matter how professional always speak too much when he gets drunk and if the information about what they found goes out it may cause all the countries of Essos to join against them, in the end, he decided that it was better to keep things this way, it doesn't matter how hard the decision was it better to play safe.

"Fine I appreciate your trust, but the road ahead will be difficult, how far are we from the Riverlands?" Asked Max.

"We need four more days before reaching there. Regarding the original plan I think it's better if we just go directly to the Riverlands, it may be dangerous to stay with our fleet if we go to battle besides we got wind of the movement of the redwyne fleet, they seem to be preparing to set sail at any moment, we don't know yet if they plan on attacking or just blockading us but it will be better to just play safe". Said Cato, as admiral he was certainly the most suitable to speak about the situation of the fleet and what he said didn't seem outrageous to Max after all if they were caught while fighting the royal fleet they could lose all their ships in a single move, it would be better to disembark the troops before doing anything else.

"You are right, we still don't know which hand the reach is going to play, it's better to not underestimate our enemies, get everything ready I want to reach the Riverlands before a week". Said Max before dismissing the twins.

And while max and his troops were moving towards the rebel army, the lords of the Reach were having a meeting.

"I want to see the face of that kid when he sees our fleet, he really thought that just with a letter he would intimidate us". Said Mace to the other lords. Lord Mace is a man in his thirties with curly brown hair and a short beard.

"My lord, is it really a good move? The rebels have the victory in the grasp of their hands and now they even have reinforcements, there's any need to move our forces at all?" Asked a minor lord, clearly concerned by the possibility of making themselves enemies of the ones that seemed to already have won the war or at least in terms of troops and positioning did won, because even with the whole forces from the Reach, Dorne and the Crownlands they were still outnumbered and that's without taking into account the Westerlands which everyone knows won't support the king but there's no one to blame for it other than the king.

"There's nothing sure yet if we just stay here and the rebels lose we will lose too, we need to at least publicly show our support, that way if the loyalist wins we are fine and if the rebels do we could minimize the damage we do and just bide our time". The one that answered wasn't Mace but Lord Randyll Tarly one of the most respected men in the Reach, he is a lean man with a head with balding dark hair, and answering what he said most lords just nodded their heads knowing that while Mace would probably try to take credit for this the one that makes the plan was Randyll.

"As lord Tarly said we will secure all our bases but what we can't tolerate is a kid trying to scare us off, we are going to show him the night of our fleet and once he understands that we are going to pull our ships back once again and that will strengthen our position". Said Mace, but most couldn't understand why would they do this, the same kid he was talking about brought an influx of trade to their lands, especially his, why would he try to attack someone that make him earn more money, is he really as stupid and arrogant as people said?, that's all they had in mind.

"Lord Mace, why are we going to fight them? I thought the whole idea is staying neutral without saying so if we attack them won't that be the same as saying we are on the side of the mad king? besides isn't his fleet said to be very powerful? And since the summer isles are so close to us if we mobilize our whole fleet won't we be open for an attack?" Asked Lord Paxter Redwyne, the admiral of the Reach, a thin man with orange hair, some of the other lords nodded in agreement while there were others that just murmured between themselves if their admiral doubted how effective this move could be why won't they.

"That's why we aren't going to mobilize our full forces, we are going to mobilize a hundred warships, half of our fleet but the rest will stay to protect our lands, it doesn't matter how strong they say their fleet is they're just rumors or any of you have seen them? with the warships lord redwyne will lead we will attach their ships that are said to be moving north probably towards the vale and there we will ask for help from the royal fleet and will crush them and teach that kid humility, after that we will just pull back, if the loyalist win we would have won a huge battle and if the rebels do we would only kill a few sellswords, and proved our strength making ourselves more valuable in their eyes". Said Mace, lord Redwyne didn't look that convinced but in the end he accepted and some of the other lords seemed genuinely convinced and started clamoring.

Seeing this Randyll Tarly just remembered the conversation he had with the Queen of Thorns. "Lord Tarly it's a pleasure seeing you here, but let's cut to business, tell me what did that idiot Mace told you about the strategy you would use in this war?" Asked Lady Olenna, a very small woman with a head full of grey hair in her sixties, and while she was known for being impetuous it was really weird for her to ask about military matters.

"Lord Mace seems hell-bent on attacking the fleet from the Nicene empire, but I don't understand why, he proposed being neutral in this war, which I guess might have something to do with you but at the same time he wants to attack them why is that?" Asked Randyll.

"Because Mace is an oaf, the same as his father, he seems angry because of the letter the kid sent him, while I must say it was a good move he surely didn't understand how stupid Mace actually is, it seems that letter injured the pride of the oaf of a son I have and now he wants revenge or as he said 'teach the kid humility', and that's why you are here, you have to make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid". Said Lady Olenna, Randyll wasn't really surprised by what she said neither by the way she said it, everyone knows how Lady Olenna talks about her family.

"I will do what I can but I can't promise anything". Said Randyll.

It was a short conversation but it remains vivid in Randyll's memory, and with that in mind he tried to convince Mace but he wasn't able to, but at least he will make sure that they can't suffer any loses.

A week later Robert already reached storm's end, there he meets his vassal lords and bannermen and started gathering his forces, ten thousand men and they still were waiting for the rest of the lords of the stormlands to answer the call, the lords in the hall were drinking and toasting for Robert and his victory in Gulltown, Robert told them the tale of how he was the first man in taking the walls, of how his mighty hammer found its way to the head of enemy soldiers and how they pissed themselves when they saw him coming at them before running for their lives, hearing his tale the lords started roaring and laughing, for people like them there's nothing more impressive than martial prowess and Robert was certainly a great warrior, they all knew beforehand but there's a difference between tourney knights and those that fought real battles, just with this he gained their approval, they continued talking and drinking when suddenly a messenger arrived, the man looked exhausted, it was obvious he came with a very important letter, the man ignored the looks in the faces of all the lords and gave the letter to Robert, Robert immediately send some servants to prepare a room for the man before dismissing him.

The hall grew silent while Robert started reading the letter, all the lords were expectant of what it may contain when suddenly Robert stood from his seat.

"FELL, CAFFEREN, AND GRANDISON RAISED THEIR ARMS IN THE NAME OF THE MAD KING, THEY'RE MARCHING TO SUMMERHALL TO GATHER THEIR TROOPS, DRINK AND FEAST TONIGHT MY STORMLORDS BECAUSE TOMORROW WE GO TO WAR". Yelled Robert for the whole hall to hear, hearing this the lords that were silent started clamoring, just the gods know how much these people like fighting. "AND SOMEONE DO THE FAVOR AND BRING A FINE WOMAN AND A FLASK OF WINE TO THAT MAN". Seeing the lords feasting once again Robert told them to give a reward for the messenger for bringing this information just for the lords to start roaring in laughter at that before someone did as he said.

Some time later at the Riverlands Max finally got there with his troops and set camp close to the castle walls while Cassius, Aurelius, himself and a group of guards including the myrmidons where entering the castle to speak with Jon and Hoster, once inside they where brought to a room where Hoster and Jon where already seated.

"Lord Arryn, Lord Tully, it's good to see you again, even in these circumstances". Greeted Max.

"It's good to see you boy, I see you are fine and even brought so many people with you, haha good, after this you should visit Edmure and Catelyn, they have been worrying a lot". Replied Hoster getting a nod from Max and a slightly raised eyebrow from Jon.

"I will find the time later but now we are here to do business, I heard about Robert's victory at Gulltown, but you might still need my forces Lord Arryn, especially my fleet, we got a wind on the movement of the redwyne fleet and they seem to be coming our way, I sent a letter before this but never got a reply, so I guess they have no plans to stay neutral in this war". Said Max, making both Hoster and Jon slightly open their eyes, they had to admit it looked like a good strategy, negate the advantage the Reach had and try to force them into neutrality, but it was a shame it didn't work out.

"I see, it's a shame, but as you said we need to get to the point, in your letter you stated that in order to provide assistance to us there were a few concessions we need to make". Said Jon.

"Yes, even if I'm Robert's friend I won't shed the blood of my people without obtaining anything for them, we have a few demands, first, two hundred thousand gold dragons, this money will be the cost not only of the service of our army but also our fleet which we both know you need, second, we want access to the library of the citadel, to all the information there, and I mean all, and finally, we want all the dragon bones inside the red keep, if you give us these things we will help you until you take the iron throne, once that is done we will depart to our lands once again". Said Max, his proposal obviously took Jon and Hoster by surprise, not because of the money since it was a fair deal for his army and if you take into account the number of ships in his navy it was also cheap, very cheap in fact, after all, some sell sails cost around thousand gold dragons per month for each ship, and it was unlikely that the war would end in a couple of months and that's without taking into account the army, they were obviously well equipped and seemed like seasoned warriors, just with that the amount of gold they would have to pay him each month would be staggering, but when they heard about the citadel they instantly knew what he was after, from what they know his country don't have a lot of information about the outside world, especially not reliable one, and he felt that there's something else about the dragon bones, he isn't asking about one or two bones but all of them, but the truth is that they needed the troops and the cost wasn't that much actually, the problem would be convincing the maesters of opening their libraries.

"It sounds too good actually, but if what you are after is information I would try to convince the maesters but I can't guarantee you that they would give all the information, as for the dragon bones we can't give you all of them, just a small part, they are part of the culture of our people". Said Jon, he was certainly a diplomat trying to lower the cost even when it was already low.

"You are telling me that you are planning to take out the dynasty but whoever you will put on the throne won't have the power of making a bunch of old men fulfill his orders if that's what you are saying maybe we need to reconsider this, and about the dragon bones we won't accept less than half of all you have". Said Max, Jon could only grit his teeth and accept, it was too much of a good situation to let slip, even if he thought there was something weird about this.

"Fine, we have a deal, we are going to write it on parchment," said Jon.

"By the way, once you take down the Targaryens who are you going to put on the throne?" Asked Max casually.

"Robert, his grandmother was a Targaryen and that makes him a cousin of the crown prince, he has the better claim to the throne, once he comes here we are going to discuss this and announce it to the other lords". Jon said.

"How did they convince you lord Hoster? I know you won't join just for the sake of justice, don't take it the wrong way, I'm just curious if we are going to fight on the same side in this war at least I need to know everything that's going on". Said Max.

"Don't worry for such things boy, my daughter was promised to the next Lord of Winterfell and she will marry him, we are family, how could I not send help to my family, once the marriage is over our forces will march over kingslanding". Said Hoster, but Max could see that for a moment Jon looked uncomfortable, he would need to find why later. In the end, it was as he thought, Catelyn was going to marry Ned, it was the best course of action, of course, it will make his family have ties with most of the kingdoms, especially with the new dynasty since Robert and Ned are like brothers.

After the meeting Max went searching for Catelyn and Edmure, it would be better if he showed them that he was fine, and only God knew what Catelyn would do if she found that he didn't come to greet them when he came.

A week later a letter arrived, Robert fought against a group of lords that rebelled against him in summerhall, winning three battles in a day, even Max grew excited when he heard the news, he didn't want to know how much Robert would brag about it when he comes, according to the letter Robert then retreated to storm's end.

Apart from the letter the week was actually quiet, but next week another letter arrived carrying not so good news this time, Robert attacked Ashford and his forces where defeated and scattered from what the letter said Robert got injured and retreated to the North, coupled with the fact that the Ravens take days before reaching their destination they needed to hurry, everything was at risk from a moment to another, this was war, chaotic and unpredictable. Jon started preparing his knights while Hoster didn't, it seemed he wanted to see if this cause could succeed, before Max could go and start readying his forces Jon told him that Ned will arrive the next day, then max get out and went to find Cassius.

"General, our allies need our help, prepare the horses tomorrow we ride to war".