Chapter Fifty-Six

The Red Keep. Kings Landing.

"It is time to take my throne!" Viserys Targaryen.

As he spoke the main doors to the throne room were blasted off their hinges thanks to the efforts of my battle harem who soon poured into the room to find that no one was resisting our occupation and they looked ready to surrender. Much to the disappointment of the Red Viper of Dorne.

We'd taken our time securing the Red Keep just in encase there were stashes of wildfire around. The Lannister men had either surrendered, run or died rather pointlessly when they tried to fight, but only a few of them had been so desperate enough to try killing my people.

So far my minions had found no traces of wildfire so I figured that Cersei wasn't yet mad enough to blow herself up or not crazy enough to try planting the stuff with her father around. It was a little surprising that she'd gotten any at all given who was really in charge around here until I took over. Perhaps the old lion had too much on his plate.

"Kill them all!" a voice yelled.

Well almost everyone and thankfully no one listened to the evil boy. The guards made no move to obey their leader, not even the Kings Guard

"Get off my throne!" Viserys ordered.

Standing there with his magical armour and sword the Targaryen looked to be a true king. Most of that was the work of myself, some medical treatment and the tutors. Between us we'd somehow managed to make a man out of him, maybe even a somewhat decent king, not that I had high hopes of that, but he'd be a figurehead with my people doing the actual ruling behind the scenes.

"Joffrey come over here" insisted the mad boy's mother.

He didn't listen.

"Kill these traitors!" the boy commanded.

None of us had ever been loyal to him so we were not traitors.

"Fight me yourself" demanded Viserys "Prove you are a king".

To my complete lack of surprise Joffrey did not jump at the chance to show everyone he had more courage than a mouse.

"Some lion he turned out to be," the Prince of Dorne joked.

Viserys marched forward until Ser Barristan got in his way.

"Your Grace he's just a child, spare him" he said.

I guess Ser Barristan hadn't been retired in this timeline.

"Get out of my way traitor" Viserys ordered "I will have my throne".

I knew that I needed to take control of this situation.

"Perhaps we should have the Lannisters taken into custody, Your Majesty" I advised "I understand your desire to reclaim your family's birthright, but we should have a few trials before you execute anyone".

Killing an insane teenager is not the best way to start a reign.

"We need to call in the regiment and try to get these fires out" I was now saying "You won't be king for long if the Red Keep burns down".

That seemed to get the Targaryen's attention.

"Quite right my Lord Hand" he agreed. "Guards secure these traitors in the dungeons. I'll deal with them once the city is secure".

Viserys took his father's seat, the Iron Throne, which was really just a monstrosity of spikes, jagged edges and twisted metal. The throne was constructed by Aegon I Targaryen from the melted, twisted, beaten, and broken blades surrendered by his enemies, or wrenched from the hands of the dying.

"Contact the Major" I ordered one of the officers who was with me, ``I'm going to need every guardsman she can spare to bring order to this city".

The Imperial Guard don't just protect or conquer whole planets, they are capable of much more, they can be a peacekeeping force and if needs be they can perform other roles. They would aid in trying to restore this city although I would need more than labours. Since the city would need to be quickly rebuilt, we'd set up refugee camps nearby and get the Ad-Mech to construct new buildings as quickly as possible. Which they could by destroying ruined buildings and recycling the materials.

Plus the armies of the Stormlords might still be an issue. A strong Guard presence would be required to make sure that they didn't try to seize what was left of Kings Landing for themselves once the fires started to burn out.

Long term restoration wasn't my concern, I just required the government centre somewhat functioning while I brought the rest of the kingdoms under the control of Imperium via the rule of House Targaryen.

"Hopefully the Keep will remain intact" I said to my Brother-In-Law as he began to look around the throne room "We'll need to keep as much of the infrastructure here intact as possible".

Viserys had other concerns.

"The skulls should be here" he complained "Did the Usurper have them ground into dust as I feared?".

As a matter of fact he hadn't.

"No, Majesty, they are stored on one of the lower levels" I told him "We almost passed them by on the way up here".

We'd taken a different passage than the one I'd used to get the Starks to safety. There were quite a few old tunnels down there.

"I'll have them brought up before the wedding" I promised.

Marriage meant little to me, but in this time of confusion and change the people would respond well to a royal marriage as it promised future stability. Plus I planned to import lots of good food for the celebrations. A party in a refugee camp might seem like a silly idea, but it was all bread and circuses, a distraction, a way to make the new regime seem better than the old one.

"Yes I suppose I'll have to marry" said Viserys "Have her push out a few heirs for me".

Political alliances and the production of heirs was the point of marriage in this world. Marrying for love was a fairy tale for children, maybe not for the smallfolk, but I only cared about them to the point of not having mobs that wanted to kill me. Hence the need for importing food and the distraction of a royal wedding.

"Your Majesty, you'll need to name your kingsguard" I reminded the king. "I suggest having a tourney as soon as possible so you can select worthy knights and show the Seven Kingdoms that you care for its traditions. I'll sponsor the event and provide the prizes".

I might need to rummage around the ruins of Valyeria some more for some sword that I could offer up as a prize along with cool stuff made by the Ad-Mech. But that could wait a few weeks as I was going to be focused on getting the city into something close to working order before anything else. Then there were the other kingdoms to consider.

"Very good my Lord Hand" said the king "But before anything else, we should clear out as much of the Keep of Lannister lackies and start bringing in our people".

By our people he meant Imperials who I would have supported his rule and some natives who had agreed to serve their new ruler.

"And don't forget the trails," said Viserys.

Yes we would need someone to blame for all of this and the Lannister would be good for that. A few public trials where I'd have Jaime confess his adultery and the people would eat it up. Some heads would roll and Viserys would be seen as a just monarch who punishes the guilty. All part of my plan.