Chapter Sixty

The Bloody Gate. The Vale.

While most of the Seven Kingdoms were now under the control of Viserys Targaryen and part of the Imperium the conquest of this world was not yet complete. Parts of Essos such as Yi Ti, this world's version of China, had no Imperial presence and there were vast swaths of land in Essos that would contain villages and towns whose occupants wouldn't even be aware that this world had made contact with us.

I'd heard from the Lord-General who was still managing his affairs from Meeren, that his forces were spread too thin for a conquest of Yi Ti, so it would likely be ignored for a time while the planetary governor did what he needed to do in order to secure his rule.

As for the other factions the Imperial Church was still in over in Ameros minding its own business. One day they'd come over the sea and start trying to convert everyone to the true faith, and this wasn't my issue to deal with as I'd be long gone by then. The planetary governor would have to handle that problem and it wasn't as if the Imperial Church had no experience in converting populations without the use of violence.

Meanwhile the Adeptus Mechanicus were preparing to withdraw most of its forces. A small outpost of the red robed cyborgs would be left behind so that someone would be around to maintain the machines we left behind, but there was no reason for the cogboys to have a major presence on this world.

The Inquisitor had recently been spotted near the castle of Harrenhall, he'd ordered it demolished and the ruins were placed off-limits so either there was truth to the rumour of that place being supernaturally afflicted or the Inquisitor was simply being overzealous. I didn't wish to interfere in his business so I kept my focus on what I needed to do here in Westeros.

Soon it would be time for me and my cruiser to move on, to return to the Forge World for resupply and repair work before sailing out to find a new world or worlds to plunder. The world of Planetos had amused me for a time, however it wasn't going to be a profitable voyage. My next trip to another dimension would have to be carefully chosen so that I could make some major profits.

Before any of that I needed to finish securing the Seven Kingdoms. As hoped the Riverlands had surrendered very quickly once Riverrun, the home of House Tully, had been taken and unlike House Stark that noble house didn't have much justification for rebelling against the Targaryens other than wanting to increase the House's standing, as such Viserys would likely have them all hanged once it was time for their day in court.

I'd considered simply destroying the Eyrie, a few shuttles could soon see the place rendered into rubble with their laser cannons, however it made sense to hand the castle over to the new ruling family and since Lysa Arryn had murdered her husband it would be good to give her a public sentencing. Lady Catlyn Stark wouldn't like that, but her husband and son wouldn't be foolish enough to cause us any trouble. They knew how easily Winterfell could be removed from the map.

"We're ready my lord" reported the Major.

Before we could attack the Eyrie we needed to get past a certain barrier. The Bloody Gate is a castle that guards the western edge of the Vale of Arryn. It is a waycastle on the road to the Eyrie, the seat of House Arryn. It had a long history and I'd heard that When Lord Jon Arryn wed Lysa Tully at Riverrun during Robert's Rebellion, Ser Brynden Tully informed his brother, Lord Hoster Tully, that he was going to serve Jon and his niece, Lysa. Lord Arryn named Brynden as Knight of the Gate when King Aerys II Targaryen died and Robert I Baratheon became the king. Not relevant to me, but I did find such information to be interesting. Becoming a Rogue Trader had not killed my inner nerd.

If Brynden Tully was still here I didn't know as I was too far back to make out any faces on the battlements and the castle wouldn't exist for much longer. I wanted it destroyed because it would display Imperial might and panic the defenders. A new fort could be erected in time.

"Then by all means, please begin" I said.

The nimble walking machines called sentinels, that had been constructed on board my ship over a period of weeks, were able to move over the uneven ground and their laser cannons had more than enough power in them to bring down walls and gates. The defenders of the Bloody Gate either died on the walls or died when they ran as the vehicles that normally served as scouts easily caught up to those who fled before blasting most of them.

Thanks to my Magnoculars, which are powerful vision devices used in the Imperium that aid their user by magnifying distant objects. I could see archers who had the high ground make a futile effort to stop the war machines, all they did was draw attention to themselves. Once exposed they didn't last long as the Guard had snipers and scouts who could take them out.

"Some of the men and women I sent ahead are reporting encounters with savages" I was told by one of the officers "There are a lot more of them than expected".

Of course we'd known about the hill tribes, they were basically wildlings who just happened to live on this side of The Wall. They were believed to be descended from the First Men who'd once ruled these lands before the Andal invasion. They'd been a problem for the Andals since those days, but I felt confident that the Imperial Guard would be the ones to remove the annoyance.

"You can route them out later" decided the officer "For now focus on making a path to the Eyrie".

The Knight of the Vale would be staying close to their lady and young lord, yet that hardly mattered. There would be no long siege as while the locals might think that the Eyrie was impenetrable that simply wasn't the case. Already shuttles were passing over the castle, only they were not going to fire their weapons, rather they would be used to deliver parachute troopers.

As for the rest of us we'd have to march to the castle and then climb up to it or find some hidden passage. There were always hidden passages in these old castles and there were ways of finding them.