Chapter Fifty-Five

The Red Keep. Kings Landing.

Madness and stupidity

Tywin Lannister often had those words on his mind even before his fool of a daughter had gotten into her head to murder her younger brother while also taking out Renly. The old lion didn't care much that his dwarf son was dead, assuming that he was, it was more about how Cersei had gone about it. She'd risked too much.

Losing Jamie had unsettled her and while she'd become more and more unstable since then she still held a lot of power as the former queen. Cersei had been able to spend many years bringing the capital under her control, at least to some extent, and she'd used her influence to obtain the services of the alchemist guild.

Like many Tywin had never held much faith in the alchemist guild, seeing them as relics of times past when the dragons still ruled, now he wished that he'd paid them more attention as even from the throne room he could hear the screams as fires consumed the city. These infernos had started because of the damn wildfire.

Ironically it was Tyrion who had tried to warn his father about Cersei's plans, but Tywin had paid the Imp very little attention and kept the dwarf busy, thinking that his youngest child needed to be kept out of trouble. If only he had listened then perhaps this massive disaster could have been averted.

It was too late now. Upon seeing Renly killed the enemy hadn't scattered; they'd attacked recklessly and the gates may have held if not for the use of wildfire. Now as the city burned Renly's army must be burning with it. There was no way to know for sure as Tywin had ordered the Red Keep sealed up and none of the screams told them much other than that the city was in chaos.

Tywin found it very worrying that his eldest grandson seemed to be pleased by the insanity going on outside his home. The old lion might have considered having the boy removed from power if not for the fact that the Lannister family was unlikely to remain in power for much longer.

The Lord of Lannister didn't know why the Imperials had turned against his family. Things between House Lannister and House Thrax seemed to have been going well and then Cersei had decided to have the Starks seized while Lord Thrax was meeting Lord Stark. Clearly something had gone wrong that day as the Imperials were supporting their enemies.

Tywin felt for certain that the Imperials would soon seize control of Kings Landing and the Red Keep with the aid of The Reach. Lord Thrax would be able to place his puppet king on the throne. He would marry the Targaryen to House Tyrells blooming rose and control the Seven Kingdoms. Without the Lannisters no other House would be able to stand up the Imperials. It was unlikely that any of them would try.

It had all seemed so simple not so long ago. Robert would drink and whore himself into an early grave, Joffery would take the throne, and Tywin as Hand of the King would find a way to get Jaime to become Lord of Casterly Rock. Even when the Imperials had appeared it seemed as if House Lannister would benefit. Yet Lord Thrax had clearly deemed them unworthy of any alliance.

"My lord the Imperials are here!" yelled out Ser Barristan.

Given the chaos in the city it seemed impossible that those outsiders could have made their way to the keep unless they'd made use of the secret tunnels. Tywin had known that leaving the known ones unblocked could be dangerous, but he'd wanted an escape route for himself and his family in case things went wrong and it wouldn't have made a big difference if he had ordered the known about passages blocked because there were others.

As for how the Imperials knew about the passages well they would have their own spies and possibly some magic of theirs would tell them of such things.

"Drive them out!" yelled Joffrey "Kill the traitors".

While Tywin had kept most of the firearms here they had limited ammo and the Imperials had much better weapons, and they'd have much more experience using such weapons in battle.

"No, we must surrender," said the oldest Lannister.

His spoiled grandson naturally took this as a sign of betrayal and ordered the guards to seize the Hand of the King; only they did nothing since they knew who really commanded them. Tywin had made sure to fill the Red Keep with men he knew were dependable. They all had rifles while the Kings Guard only had ceremonial sidearms and swords.

"Father we can't!" protested his fool of a daughter.

He turned to face Cersei and Joffrey.

"If we fight we'll all be killed and then what?" he asked "If we surrender and bend the knee we may yet keep the Westerlands".

Tywin knew that this was only a chance to live past this day. Viserys would accuse him of having his niece and nephew murdered, and while this was true there was no actual evidence and the Lord of Lions could demand trial by combat to prove his innocence. He would request that both champions be of Westeros and worshippers of The Seven. Should he fail then he would plead to be allowed to take The Black and he would plead mercy for his grandchildren. Something of House Lannister would survive.

"Come on Joffrey we're leaving" said Cersei "Your grandfather may have given up the fight, but we can regroup, go to Casterly Rock and meet with my Uncle Kevan".

Tywin knew that the fighting was over.

"Seize them" he ordered "No one is to leave".

Joffrey screamed like a child having a tantrum.

"I AM THE KING!"

The Hand lost his temper.

"You are a spoiled brat!" he shouted "You are not fit to rule. As Hand of the King am I declaring myself regent until a proper surrender can be arranged".

As much as their sheer stupidity annoyed him, the old lion would not let them go off and get themselves killed.

"You'd never make it out of the city" he said in a calmer voice "If the fires didn't kill you a mob would. They know who to blame for the flames that are destroying their homes".

Cersei looked to be considering that, but Joffrey simply fumed and looked ready to start throwing things. Tywin knew that he'd have to tell the Imperials that the boy had gone mad under the pressure of rulership at such a young age. Hopefully they had some mercy in them.