Ch 64 ASOIF 7

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Carl led his small group through the gates at Riverrun and into the castle yard. He dismounted and handed off his horse to the stable hands, dismissing his men to their normal duties. He paused for a moment to give Lyanna a confident grin before leading the way. Rhaegar, Dayne, and Whent followed along behind Carl and Lyanna on the way to Hoster's solar to report the success of his venture.

They were just passing by the banquet hall when Carl noticed the Starks gaping at him, or more specifically at Lyanna next to him.

"Lyanna!"

"Sister!"

The loud calls at the same time from both Rickard and Brandon rose above the general din of the hall eating their midday meal. Once the calls had brought everyone's attention to his small group, Carl redirected his movement to join the meal.

Just before Carl could greet his family where they sat at their meal with the Starks, he was interrupted by the sound of steel being drawn, and a loud angry cry.

"You Targaryen bastard! I'll make you pay!" Brandon yelled as he charged.

Carl sighed in exasperation and eyed Lyanna to see if she wanted to handle her brother or let him do it. Seeing that he was elected, since Lyanna defending the Prince would absolutely drive her brother crazy, Carl pulled his own sword and placed himself between Brandon and Rhaegar. He couldn't allow his slave to die before serving his purpose, could he?

"Brandon Stark. I know you've taken bread and salt at our table." Carl loudly called. Seeing that Brandon at least paused at the invocation of sacred guest rights, especially at the shocking sight of Carl drawing his sword and standing in his way. "You are a guest in our hall. It is not right for you to attack another guest in our halls. Or do you throw away the sacred custom?"

"But you know what he did to my sister! I'll have his guts on the floor today!" Brandon yelled out.

"I know I heard a rumor only, Brandon." Carl scoffed with as much disdain as he could muster. He was pleased to see Brandon flush a bit in shame. "And I know I also heard rumors that you were killed by the king, yet here you stand. Are you so impatient and heartless that you won't even properly greet your sister and learn from her own mouth the truth or falsehood of such rumors?" If Carl could gather sarcasm as a liquid, Brandon would be liberally soaked in it.

Brandon looked over at his sister in question, who sighed and rolled her eyes.

"None of that was true, Brandon." Lyanna strode up next to her brother and slugged his shoulder for being so impulsive and stupid. "I was off riding and exploring as I usually do when my horse was startled by a snake and broke its leg. The Prince and his guard were riding by and offered assistance. Some busybodies probably saw it and spread the most lurid tale they could craft for their own entertainment."

Brandon gaped for a moment, looking back and forth between Lyanna, Carl, and Rhaegar. "So, you weren't kidnapped?" Brandon tentatively questioned for confirmation.

"I guarantee you nothing of the sort happened." Rhaegar smoothly interjected at Carl's prompting. "You have no need to be concerned about my intentions toward your sister. Unlike some others." He suggestively finished while eyeing Carl.

Carl visibly rolled his eyes and wandlessly cast a stinging hex at the Prince to punish him before moving to take Lyanna's hand in his own to show that the Prince's words were not just hot air. Maybe the reigns were a little too loose on the Prince, if he was trying any method, no matter how petty, to get back at him?

He would have to remonstrate with Rhaegar when he had a moment free, to teach him the proper attitude to have towards one of the beings who held his life in their hands.

Rickard Stark had been standing back, eyeing the group as he processed the information he heard and saw. Unlike his hotheaded son, he had been trying to gather enough information to make more informed decisions. But now he moved forward.

"And what of your betrothal to Robert Baratheon, Lyanna?" Lord Stark asked sternly.

"I never agreed to such a thing." Lyanna raised her chin and glared at her father, clearly showing how stubborn and unyielding she planned to be on the subject. "Whenever I told you as much before, you, Brandon, and Ned all waved it away as the tantrums of a young girl who would come to agree with you in time. Well, I'm telling you now, that I have never agreed to marry Robert, and I will certainly not agree in the future. My future is with Carl."

Carl's mouth twitched in amusement as he watched the various reactions of those in the hall. Hoster scowled very briefly, since he had been in negotiations himself with many houses for a marriage alliance with Carl. He already had a marriage set between Brandon and Catelyn, so Carl marrying Lyanna was redundant from a political perspective.

Catelyn and Lysa, on the other hand, were quite taken with the romance of the scene. A fierce young lady who they knew got on well with their brother, proudly declaring that she would marry no other. It was quite a fetching story.

Rickard scowled at being defied, and having an agreement that he signed previously being voided by what he still considered the romantic nonsense of a young girl. Carl chuckled inwardly at the dichotomy. A 'young girl's nonsense', yet that same young girl was expected to wed for political advantage, which was a decidedly adult activity.

"Lord Stark." Carl drew Rickard's attention to him. "I realize you're not best pleased at the moment with our relationship." Rickard's scowl told Carl that his words were inadequate to express Rickard's feelings of the matter. "But there are two things you should keep in mind at this time."

"And what are those two things, Carl Tully?" Rickard queried in a dangerous tone that was trying to say not to mess with him.

"Well, the first thing is that we have some other pressing business to attend to, namely what to do about the Mad King and his troops." Carl paused to let that slightly more pressing matter intrude on their thought processes. "And the second, is that you will be my goodfather in the near future. Damaging our familial relationship in the heat of the moment will just create bad feelings overall." Carl attempted to subtly warn the man not to go too overboard, since they would be related by marriage soon.

"Is that a fact, boy?" Rickard asked, glaring into Carl's eyes, testing to see his resolve.

"That is a fact." Carl steadily looked back in Rickard's eyes, showing him nothing but complete confidence that he spoke 100% truth. The two men seemed locked in a stare down for several minutes.

"Well, in that case, welcome to the family, son." Rickard finally broke the stare-down by grinning and changing his demeanor in a flash with a laugh. They both ignored Brandon's inarticulate cry from surprise at his father giving in so easily.

Carl was also pleased to see his father in this life become resigned and finally accept Carl's decision. He hadn't been getting far in his negotiations for a bride for Carl anyways. It might be better to bolster their alliance with the North than to continue seeking other alliances, especially in these uncertain times of rebellion.

Towards Hoster Tully, Carl had some complicated feelings. On the one hand, he had memories of being raised by him for 18 years, so there was a strong family sentiment.

But on the other hand, now that Carl had his full memories restored, the authority and reverence that Carl Tully previously placed on his Lord Father was decreased by a large amount. He no longer felt at ease submitting to someone else's rules and orders.

Even though in many people's eyes being the heir to the Lord Paramount of the Trident seemed like a very high position to be jealous of, Carl felt like the position was stifling and limiting. He no longer had any ideas of settling down for the rest of his life in such a small place as The Riverlands.

It would always be his home in this world, but he never forgot that he only had 10 years here. He really wanted to explore this world, instead of being chained down by paperwork for the next decade.

Once the initial chaos of the presence of Rhaegar settled down, the crowd once more sat down to the meal. By unspoken agreement of those present, they wouldn't speak of the coming conflict in the open hall where all kinds of ears could overhear. They would retire to Hoster's solar to continue discussions of what to do about the rebellion.

Carl was amused to see his sisters ambushing Lyanna and start gossiping with her.

Over their time in the Heavenly Time Pearl, Carl had introduced many things to Lyanna that she had never imagined before. How could she, having grown up in the medieval society of Westeros?

Aside from training and gaining an education, Lyanna had been introduced to many of the cultural things Carl had available. Which included movies and TV shows.

And while Lyanna would always be a very active person, she had found that she did have a somewhat girly side through the dramas and TV shows. She was no longer the consummate tomboy, yearning for anything other than being relegated to the knitting circle. She had found that she could learn, explore, and participate in adventure while still retaining her feminine side.

Having more power and the options available to her, ironically, allowed her the freedom to choose for herself how womanly and feminine she wanted to be. Instead of running from her feminine side, the power she gained from the training gave her the ability to enjoy it without the fear of being boxed and controlled in the useless woman stereotype.

So seeing her engaging in "girly" gossip with his sisters wasn't as quite a shock as it would have been before the training. She had enough confidence in herself and her ability to control her life that she could afford to not be seen as powerful all the time.

Carl somewhat hoped that Lyanna's example could help convince his sisters to try out some activities that weren't completely feminine sometime in the future.

Shortly after the midday meal was complete, the Tullys, the Starks, Prince Rhaegar, Ser Dayne, Ser Whent, Maester Naet, and several Tully guard Captains were arranged in Hoster's solar to discuss what to do concerning the rebellion and dethroning the Mad King.

By this point in time, while Carl had been traveling to Harrenhal and back, messages had been sent back and forth between Rickard Stark and his son Eddard, nicknamed Ned, who had made it back to The North. Word was being spread to The North that Rickard and Brandon hadn't actually perished at Kings Landing, and that they would soon arrive in the North to continue to gather his bannermen to oppose the King.

Messages had also been sent back and forth by crow to Lord Jon Arryn of The Vale to coordinate between the Riverlands and the Vale. The initial conversation had been about how many houses of The Vale could be expected to heed Lord Arryn's call to arms, and how many would join the King. Some of the houses that had fought against Arryn at Gulltown surprisingly switched sides back to their liege lord after losing the battle. So the numbers were not looking as dismal as they were at first.

Rhaegar proved his worth at this time for his master as he, under Carl's orders, began composing letters to be sent to the various Lords around the Seven Kingdoms that the rebellion of the Stark, Baratheon, and Arryns wasn't just them against the rightful king. The letters detailed that he, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, announced that he was taking this time to end the unjust and cruel rule of his father, and would take his place as the King to ensure the security and prosperity of the Realm and all the Lords within.

Messages had been sent by crow to the Stormlands for Robert Baratheon, but it would still be some days before Robert landed in his lands and received the messages, let alone had a chance to reply. But messages had been received by Stannis Baratheon at Storm's End who was gathering what men were loyal to the Baratheon family to resist the Mad King's armies.

The messages from Rhaegar would also be sent to the Reach for Lord Mace Tyrell, the Lord of Highgarden and Lord Paramount of the Mander; to the Westerlands for Lord Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West; and to Dorne for Prince Doran Martell, head of the Martell family, Prince of Dorne, and Lord of Sunspear.

The letters clarified that Prince Rhaegar didn't actually kidnap Lyanna Stark or set aside his Dornish Princess wife. He went on to explain his position in regards to the developing madness of his father, the King, and that he was no longer fit to rule. The Mad King had allowed his paranoia to overcome his good judgment when he had ordered the unlawful arrest and executions of the Lords under his fealty.

Prince Rhaegar included a call to arms to the various Lord to join him in establishing the security of the Realm by placing him on the Iron Throne in place of his father.

At the very least the letters should instill some amount of caution in the Lords in how quickly they would act, even if it didn't affect which side they ultimately chose to join.

With the addition of Prince Rhaegar on the side of the rebellion, the question of which side to join to honor their oaths to the Throne was no quite so readily apparent to the various Lords. And while their decisions would no doubt be guided by their own self interest, at the very least the complicated matter would instill caution in them and cause them to think long and hard about the matter. The extra time and hesitance of the various factions would give Carl and his side more time to mobilize and act to influence decisions.

The difference between a rebellion that struggled to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Lords, and one that had the backing of the heir of the throne, were vastly different. And while Carl's spy technology couldn't read minds, it was easily able to overhear the orders each Lord sent to his men. This gave Carl a huge advantage in knowing in advance what each Lord had decided to do and who they would join up with.

The "rebellion" had a huge advantage in the upcoming war.

The only difficulty Carl had to overcome was figuring out how to pass the information he had to Hoster, Rickard, and the other leaders of the rebellion. In the end he decided that he would have the Yamato build a few CFRs, or Crow Form Robots, that would carry various reports from Carl's "informants" to Carl. He would then send on the information to the Lords that needed to get the information to make a proper decision.

Carl would discover over the course of the short war that the simple deception allowed him a great deal of leeway on how to spread information around his allies. He could even spread plenty of disinformation among his enemies if he so chose. Who asked the Maesters to create a communication method that was so easily suborned? And who made the various Lords so reliant on that very method?

At the end of the meeting the short term plans had been set. The Starks would return North the next morning and finish gathering their men, before coming back south to join the Tully's army.

On a more personnel note, Brandon and Catelyn's wedding was to be delayed for a few months while they prepared for war. Hoster had at first wanted the wedding to be rushed through immediately, to show that there was a solid alliance between the Tullys and Starks. Carl had managed to get that plan derailed. Carl wanted his sister to have a much better wedding than a rushed affair on the eve of war. It could wait a few months while they fixed the kingdom.

It was also decided that Carl and Lyanna's wedding would be held in two years, after Lyanna turned 18. It would not be announced until after they had a chance to inform Robert that he was no longer to be wed to Lyanna.

Knowing what he did of Robert's character, Carl wouldn't be surprised if he would have to beat the big oaf a few times before he accepted that he wouldn't be marrying Lyanna. Thinking back on his memories of the man, Carl knew that Robert had some strong feelings for Lyanna, but that still didn't stop Robert from drinking and whoring it up around her, which is what drove her away from him to accept Rhaegar's proposition in the first place.

Ultimately, Carl didn't care if Robert could accept his and Lyanna's marriage or not. Robert couldn't beat Carl in a fight, even before he regained his memories. And while there might be some repercussions politically with the Stormlands, Carl had plenty of ways around any issues that might come up.

And if Robert got a little overly aggressive, he could always use a little application of inducing decency with his knuckles would help Robert get over it and live the rest of his life just fine. There was a reason he grabbed that decency inducing perk in the ATG world. It would be a shame not to use it here in Westeros.

Over the next week Carl was kept busy organizing the Tully men and liaising with the various nobles that answered House Tully's call to arms. There was a lot to organize for the army they were fielding. The logistics of feeding the army needed to be organized, and it was given to Carl to supervise the process.

Carl wasn't too surprised to receive a "punishment" duty from his father for his "impulsive" actions in regards to Lyanna Stark. It would be a surprise if a lord wasn't unhappy with his children for picking their own match, instead of what was best for the House politically.

While Carl had chosen in the moment to help Lyanna gain enough power to truly control her life due to his memories of being fond of her as a friend, the decision to be a couple had been anything but impulsive. Over ten years of training, learning, and living together had given Carl and Lyanna plenty of time to get to know each other and decide they could work as a couple.

So Carl just chuckled a bit at the punishment detail that Hoster assigned him. The old Carl Tully, before he woke up his memories, may have chaffed at the assignment. But he wasn't too bothered by the punishment. He knew how important logistics were. There was a saying attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. "An army marches on its stomach."

The importance of food and the proper tools and supplies to keep an army in fighting shape couldn't be underestimated. With the use of his technology, Carl was able to easily find and procure the needed supplies, when his people didn't have the answers for him. So the assignment was quite easy for him to complete.

By the week's end, Carl had the logistics settled with the right people in charge of supplies, the army levees had been gathered, and they were ready to march. Early in the morning the 4,000 man army was gathered and ready to set off. Another 4,000 would be left to defend the Tully lands from Riverrun under Hoster's command, so they would have the defensive fortification to overcome a larger army.

There were still large numbers of troops that were gathering, since even a week and a half wasn't enough to gather all their men. Another 2,000 men would gather at Riverrun while the first half with Carl was meeting up with the Starks at the Twins. After which Hoster would gather 4,000 men and meet the Starks and Carl at the Trident, leaving 2,000 plus men to guard Riverrun.

The general routine of the army wasn't particularly exciting as they traveled north to the Twins. In the morning they ate, broke camp and traveled. Scouts were sent out to make sure there were no large gatherings of troops that would try to ambush them. At the end of the day, they made camp, set up defenses, and ate. As they traveled they continued to perfect the methods of signals and communications among the army to make sure they weren't just a mob of undisciplined fools.

They were still a days ride away from the Twins, the castle crossing of the Freys, when word reached the army that old Walder Frey, the Lord of the twins, had died of a heart attack. Carl faintly smiled when the "unexpected" news reached him. Especially when he heard about the infighting among the sons of Walder Frey for who would be the next Lord Frey.

His one meeting with Walder Frey had not endeared the cantankerous man to him. At the time, before his memories had returned, Carl had been simply passing through so the old Frey lord hadn't had any leverage over him to force a marriage. But apparently he had been of the opinion that nothing ventured, nothing gained.

When Carl had made a midnight visit to the old man to see how much trouble he could expect from him, Carl had been quite disgusted by the old man's vile mind. Constant schemes and plans ran through his head, whether to bed and use his wives until they died, or plans to revenge himself against anyone who slighted him.

And the old man's list of who slighted him was long. Anything that someone did that Walder Frey didn't like got him added to the list. Carl was amused to see he was added to the list for being an uppity young man who didn't know he should have been happy for the marriage offer the old Frey proposed with one of his weak and timid granddaughters. And the girls were always so timid precisely because of the beatings and abuse they endured from Walder Frey from the time they were little kids.

When Carl had delved into the Frey's mind, he had seen all the plans Frey had enacted to raise the prices of transport between Riverrun and Winterfell in order to hurt the finances of the Tullys and the Starks. He saw the plans the old man had to demand exorbitant crossing fees for the Stark men in the coming war. If they wanted to be involved in the rebellion, they would have to make some large concessions, travel around the long way, or lose a great deal of men taking over the fortifications.

He also saw the plans of the old man to delay his levees from gathering up to fight for the Tullys until the fighting was already done, one way or another. Carl scowled mightily at that. That was the kind of treacherous actions that couldn't really be proved or acted on by the Tullys, not without giving them the reputation of being an unreasonable Liege Lord.

So in the interests of solving an issue before it became a big problem, Carl arranged for Walder Frey to have a health problem that ended his schemes and plans to backstab the Tullys. The reports of chaos among his descendents as they scrambled for the Lordship was just a bonus, since it meant they would be weak and unprepared for the coming siege.

The next day Carl's forces arrived outside the Twins, while the Stark army of 7,000 arrived on the other side. He had sent a large group of knights ahead to judge the situation, and saw that they had taken control of the defenses in the midst of the chaos following Walder Frey's death. The gates were left open for the Tully army to occupy the fortress. The way was open for them to join the Starks on the other side of the Green Fork, according to their plan.

The rest of that day was taken up by meeting the new Frey in charge of the Twins and organizing the combined army. Carl made sure that the new Frey Lord wouldn't give them any problems and would be loyal to House Tully. Carl noticed that he barely had to make use of any compulsion magic to do so, which likely meant that his leadership perks were working.

For a moment Carl pondered the idea that he didn't really have to arrange for the late Walder Frey's death, since the perks would likely have insured his loyalty. But then Carl shook that idea from his head as useless and naïve.

First of all, it was a useless idea. At this point Carl couldn't change what he'd already done without messing with time once more, and really screwing up the timeline. Which wasn't something he was willing to do for the old bastard Frey.

Second, he realized that from the wording of the perks, the loyalty perks he had wasn't 100% certain to work on everyone, especially in the case of the unlamented old Frey. He was certainly not a follower of Carl's, so the Ludicrous Loyalty Enforcement perk he got from the ATG world really wouldn't have been useful in the Frey's case.

And while the perk A Quiet People ensured that the people under his authority were unlikely to cause trouble and rebel, the wording didn't make it a completely sure thing. With how cantankerous and bitter of a cunt old Walder Frey was, he was likely the exception to the general rule of the perks. It was better that he be got rid of, and a more manageable Frey take charge of the crossing.

At the very least the cost of transporting goods through the Twins would drop for the Tullys and Starks from now on to a more honest and reasonable fee. One that wasn't designed to drain their funds and make them weak.

After a day of organizing everything, 2,000 Frey men joined Carl's army, and with the Starks, they started their march east to the Kingsroad. Carl sent word back to his father that they would be moving on ahead of time since they had less problems at the Twins than they expected.

As they were passing each of the noble's lands, they met with each one and gathered handfuls of men here and there, slightly swelling the numbers of their army.

After a couple days, they started south along the Kingsroad. The word from Jon Arryn was that he had the Vale well in hand. Not all of his nobles were joining him, but at least those who weren't joining him would mostly sit out the conflict.

After several days of travel they arrived outside of Castle Darry that was on the Trident. Their scouts came back with news that House Mooten of Maindenpool, House Goodbrook of the Red Fork, and House Ryger of Willow Wood had joined House Darry in Castle Darry, bolstering their defenses.

In other news from the scouts, House Lychester and House Mallister had joined Hoster Tully and arrived from the west shortly before Carl, Rickard, Brandon, and Eddard had arrived from the north.

Prince Rhaegar had stayed with Hoster at Riverrun while Carl had met up with the Starks. So now it was time to see how useful the Prince would be. Could Rhaegar talk the Darrys, Mootens, Goodbrooks, and Rygers into joining them? Or would the matter be resolved through battle?

On the open ground between the joint forces of the Tullys and Starks and the defenses of Castle Darry, a location was decided for parley to take place. Carl wasn't invited to the meeting, to make sure that the Tully Lord and Heir wouldn't be in the same place in case of treachery from the opposing houses. Naturally Carl had some spy bots stream the video and audio to him so he could watch how things went.

After some talk and negotiations by Prince Rhaegar, and plenty of promises, the various Houses in Castle Darry agreed to join Rhaegar's cause and help him depose his father.

Carl snorted inside in disgust. It had taken plenty of promises of benefits before those houses had agreed to join them. While Carl was sure the various Lords were just looking to maximize their houses benefits, he didn't think too much of their profiteering in this case. Especially because their assistance in this instance should be covered under their oaths of fealty.

But obviously they didn't put too much emphasis or stock in those oaths. Carl made a note in his mind that he needed to do something special to punish House Darry for their ridiculous demands. They were one of the houses that wanted to overthrow House Tully, so they were already on his list. But they just moved up it.

In the middle of the negotiations Jon Arryn arrived with his army of 8,000 men that significantly increased their negotiating position. So it only took another two days, instead of a full week, to finish negotiations satisfactorily.

Two days later, they marched south towards Kings Landing, but a few days later they split their army up into two. The larger portion continued marching towards Kings Landing to besiege it and tie up the King's forces.

Carl took 10,000 of the men, along with Eddard, and moved further south to relieve Robert and the Stormlanders from the siege they were suffering under Mace Tyrell's army. Rhaegar came with them in the hope that they could convince the idiot and blustering fool that was Mace Tyrell to join them.

The word they received was that the Dornish Prince, Doran Martell, was sending 10,000 men north to join Rhaegar. Apparently the messages Carl had Rhaegar send to reassure Doran that his sister Princess Elia and her children were still well and treated honorably had done wonders for the Martells decision of which side to join.

Carl had made sure that Princess Elia and her children, along with the Mad King's wife, Queen Rhaella, and other son, Viserys, were safely located at Dragonstone, and that they would stay out of the war zone for the duration. Carl received word that the Queen was pregnant once more, so there would be one more child of the Mad King.

Carl had decided that no one would be allowed to use any of the women or children as pawns or hostages in this little rebellion to convince Dorne to side with the Mad King, or as a threat against the Mad King. He didn't need to use such means to accomplish his goal, and he wasn't going to let any despicable characters use such means to complicate matters. So Carl had sent some invisible probes to guard the women and children to make sure they were kept safe.

Since Carl had no desire to openly take the Iron Throne for himself, he felt that this method was a good way to ensure that the succession of the throne was secure, and that the kingdom could be settled down quickly after deposing the Mad King.

In other news that Carl received via CFR from his "spies", Lord Lannister seemed to be testing the waters before committing himself to either side. He only started moving his own forces east when he had gotten news about who was on which side, and how the war had progressed. Since Tywin wasn't saying aloud his decision to anyone for his spies to overhear, Carl could only assume the Lannister Lord was playing it very cautiously so he could take advantage, and join whoever was the winner.

Carl knew that there had been a falling out between the former Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister, and the Mad King a couple of years previously when Tywin's heir, Jaime, had been allowed to join the Kingsguard.

Once a young noble joined the Kingsguard, they basically vowed to never marry, and they were bound by the duty to protect the king, so they could no longer serve as a lord. Tywin had been furious that the King had taken his heir away from him, and had resigned his position as the Hand of the King in to express his anger as a result.

Carl wasn't too surprised by the caution and political maneuvering of Tywin Lannister. His heir, who he no doubt still hoped to retrieve and make the next Lord Lannister, was right next to the King as a hostage. He had to think twice about joining the rebels, with his heir as hostage. So it was quite understandable that the Lannister Lord wouldn't be jumping into the fray eagerly, but going slowly in order to spare his son and heir.

The mad king had already blatantly killed Rickard and Brandon Stark in his throne room, even if the deaths didn't stick for whatever reason. So Tywin had no doubt that if he openly joined the rebels the very next news he received from Kings Landing would be the death of his son.

Several days of hard marching later, Carl's forces arrived outside Summerhall, where the Baratheon forces were being besieged by the Tyrell forces. Carl and Ned Stark saw that in order to get the Tyrell's attention, they couldn't just mosey on up and request parley. They wouldn't get any respect from such an action. They would just be ignored.

In addition, the Martell forces arrived from the south. With some communications through Carl's CFRs, the two armies planned and attacked the Tyrell forces. It was a blatant way of letting the Tyrells know they weren't the strongest force around, and that they had better agree to parley, if they knew what was good for them.

A several hour long battle was waged, with surprisingly few casualties, since it was a method of negotiations rather than killing off the opponent. But it was obvious that the joint Tully/Stark/Arryn/Martell forces came off the better in the engagement, even though they had slightly fewer numbers. Their men were just tougher and more stubborn than the men of the Reach.

The obvious drubbing the Tyrell forces took even forced the fool Mace Tyrell to being willing to listen and not bluster at the parley on the following day. Seeing the surprise and shock in Mace's face the next day when Rhaegar showed up to the parley on the side of the rebels really drove home to Carl just how big of an idiot the Tyrell Lord was. Apparently he hadn't put any stock in the missives Carl had Rhaegar send him. It wasn't until Mace saw Rhaegar face to face that he finally realized what was happening.

The idiot.

And Carl wasn't completely sure that Mace really knew the ramifications of what was happening with the rebellion. But thankfully Mace's commanders were able to work around him and convince Mace to join up with Rhaegar and the rebellion.

Carl received notice that the Westerland forces and Tywin was slowly making their way across the Reach, headed to King's Landing. So Carl sent out orders to be organized and ready to march in a day so they could head back up north to Kings Landing themselves to finish up the rebellion and depose the Mad King.

With the intelligence network that Carl had, in addition to the presence of Rhaegar, the rebellion hadn't lasted very long at all. And surprisingly few people had died in battle, even though that number wasn't exactly small. It was just surprisingly few for the nature of the war that was being waged. Usually the feelings and acrimonious anger on each side would lead to wanton slaughter. Thankfully Carl had been able to keep that to a minimum, which would be helpful in settling down the kingdom in the aftermath. There would be fewer grudges and hatred to assuage.

Later that night in the army's combined camp, Robert Baratheon greeted Carl with a punch to the face and an angry yell about stealing Lyanna from him. Carl was amused on the inside, but he decided to keep his abilities chained and only fight Robert with slightly above human abilities. Which didn't mean he got bruises or anything from Robert's punches, but the blunt and straightforward man obviously needed to vent, so a good fight was in order. So Carl faked the injuries with his medical skills as he fought in a knock-down, drag-out fistfight.

Robert was a mass of anger that needed to work itself out, so Carl obliged him, trading punch for punch, kick for kick, and bite for bite. He refrained from breaking any bones, but he kept going as long as Robert wanted.

The fight drew a large crowd of soldiers. The Tully men were about jump in and start fighting the Baratheon men in anger, but Carl's Captains and Ned Stark were able to calm the groups down and convince the Tully and Baratheon men to leave the fight between Carl and Robert.

Which resulted in Carl and Robert being surrounded by a group of men all egging them on and betting on the outcome. Inside Carl was laughing because of the resemblance to a group of junior high school students that would circle the fighters chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

At the end of the fight, when both Carl and Robert were sprawled out on the ground gasping, blood oozing from cuts above their eyes, and bruises all over their faces, Carl congratulated himself in his mind on being such a good actor. He should totally win an Oscar.

"Is she happy?" Robert finally said something beyond incoherent shouting as he eyed Carl sprawled next to him.

"Aye, she's happy." Carl replied, keeping it simple but truthful. Robert wouldn't really want to hear any details of the woman's relationship with the man she ran away from Robert with.

"Well, that's good then. I'll bloody chop you up if you hurt her, though." Robert replied after some thought and probing one of his teeth with his tongue.

"Aye, I think you'd have to get in line, if that were the case." Carl said with a laugh, pointing at where Ned was giving the two of them frowns of disapproval.

"You might be right in that." Robert allowed with a chuckle. "Good fight. Now let's get some wine!" The big man stood, grabbing Carl's hand and dragging him to the mess tent to get drunk.

Carl chuckled as he followed along in Robert's wake. It was hard not to like Robert. Even though he wasn't the right man for Lyanna, he did care for her as much as he was able. And he was a bluntly honest and forthright man. He loved a fight, a drink, and a lay.

'Yes, it's hard to dislike the man', Carl thought as Ned joined the two for a night of drinking. 'Especially now that he's got the right idea in his head. Now I've just got to keep from laughing in his face as he tries to best me in drinking, since he couldn't win with fists.'

Carl was laughing inside because the army was leaving in the morning, and he wouldn't envy the headaches the other men were going to have when they were forced out of their beds to join the army in their march.

It didn't stop him from egging them on to drink even more though. Indulging in a bit of schadenfreude didn't make him a bad person, right?