Chapter 130 – Two Castles

[300 AC]

Standing on a grassy hill, a gentle breeze flowing around his form, Phenex' gaze rested on the ancient castle sitting on the shoulder of the mountain peak known as the Giant's Lance. The Eyrie made for an impressive sight, despite its size being small compared to the castles of other Great Houses, which was only natural considering its position.

The conquest of the Stormlands, the Reach, and the Iron Islands was nearly finished, while even the Westerlands were slowly subdued by the forces under Oberyn's and his youngest Feather's command.

Still, the progress went too slow for his taste, as he could see the happenings beyond the Wall, with the Night's Watch having already experienced the defeat at the Fist of the First Men after having initiated their Great Ranging.

It would not be long before the Wildlings would flock to the Wall and try to conquer it, which they would most likely be successful with, as without Jaehaerys, the Night's Watch would be hit by surprise and stood no chance against the overwhelming numbers of the Free Folk.

Phenex wanted the situation of the Seven Kingdoms to be settled before these events came to pass, so that the Red Temple would have the leisure to deal with the Free Folk, and more importantly, the White Walkers when the time came, without needing him to intervene too much.

He knew that the North may be able to stop the Wildlings, but without the temple's and his help, it was very much impossible to put an end to the White Walkers, as they grew stronger with each battle, their numbers ever increasing.

To that end, Phenex planned to accelerate the temple's conquest by forcing those opposing its rule into submission, something he knew required a deterrent, and what better target was there than the Vale, particularly the Eyrie, and its newly-ascended Warden of the East.

Even with the construction of a temple, the Lords of the Vale had categorically obstructed the Red Temple from gaining more believers and integrating itself into the Eastern Kingdom, which had forced the High Priest stationed there to set his sights on the Mountain Clans in hopes of spreading the temple's influence.

Still, Phenex knew that Littlefinger was certainly willing to submit to the Red Temple, along with many of the other minor Lords, after the news from King's Landing and the rest of the Seven Kingdoms would reach them, though he did not plan to give him this chance.

Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish was undoubtedly a man with many talents. His intelligence, cunning, and political acumen were simply outstanding, as was his ability to incite chaos and strife, along with benefitting from such.

His most incredible trait though was without question his patience. Planning and scheming for years on end, one step at a time, Baelish had climbed the ladder of authority and power, and he would have climbed even higher given more time.

Phenex though had never considered roping him in to use his talents for the good of the temple, as Littlefinger simply could not be trusted.

For sure he could have enforced his loyalty with magic like he had done with so many other temple officials in the past, but that would most likely not have changed anything.

Much like Varys, Phenex knew that Petyr Baelish would forever search for a way to circumvent the oath to serve the temple, as such was simply his nature. Worse still, Littlefinger was motivated by his greed for power, while the Spider had simply done what he thought right.

Taking a few deep breaths, Phenex cleared his mind of any distractions, as he loosened the restraints on his inner fire and magic.

A blazing torrent erupted from his form the next moment, his physical form turning into immaterial flames, as a fiery giant the size of a mountain appeared on the verdant hills in the Vale.

"ROOAAAARRRRR!"

An earth-shattering cry rang out, cracking the atmosphere, as the blazing titan swung his fist against the infamous and seemingly impenetrable castle and seat of House Arryn.

Under the overwhelming might of the giant's fist, all that remained from the Eyrie were molten stone and ashes, while the knights of the Bloody Gate and any other spectator could only look on in horror.

Some prostrated themselves in response to what they had borne witness to, while others simply froze up in fright.

The blazing giant though didn't attack again, instead, the flames making up its form contracted and twisted in on itself as the giant transformed into a beautiful fiery bird, which flew off the next moment into the direction of King's Landing.

…

Pyke. Castle and seat of House Greyjoy, bearing the same name as the island it stood on. The castle consisted of dozens of great towers connected to each other by rope bridges and only very few stone walkways.

This unique make-up was one of the things that made it so hard to conquer, as in siege the rope bridges could just be cut and deny enemies the opportunity to use their numerical advantage to surround and attack the castle from all sides.

This strategy had been used many times in the past, even during the Greyjoy Rebellion, which was one of the reasons that the siege had been so brutal and so many men had been sacrificed until finally Thoros of Myr, the Undying Priest, broke through the blockade forcefully and created an opportunity for the Iron Throne's forces to bring down the rebels.

All that however was entirely ineffective against the black-scaled, winged beast, whose breath just wrought pure destruction upon the ancient castle, under the command of the silver-haired warrioress riding on its back.

Balon Greyjoy could do nothing but despair as he saw the seat of his House and the greatest castle of the Iron Islands be reduced to broken stone and ashes. In the distance, he could still see the massive fleet of the Red Temple crushing his own, while his men were equally helpless to stop the black dragon from continuing its rampage.

The self-proclaimed King of the Isles and the North had heard of the supposed assassination of his son at the hands of the temple, but until this moment he could not make sense of the temple's interference and invasion.

He was wrathful, yet impotent to change his fate, and even when the mighty beast dived down once again from the sky, black flames already flickering at the edges of its maw, the Lord of House Greyjoy called out for the Drowned God to save his loyal servant, but no answer ever reached his ears.

At least not before the abyss-black dragonfire did.