Blood and Winter

The Dragons

Chapter LXIII - Meeting

As the guards pushed open the door to the Great Hall, Harry wheeled Ned Stark into the room only to be struck by the tense silence within the room. Even as all the eyes in the room turned to him, Ned himself taking a moment to notice the clear divide beginning to form.

The Lords and representatives of the North, Riverlands and Reach were gathering around on the right-hand side of the table, close to the head of the table. Across from them, the Lords of Vale sat, narrowed eyes and arms crossed over their chests. That was where the tension was coming from, the Lords and representatives of the Crownlands and Westerlands sat at the bottom end of the table looking entirely unbothered by the tension in the room.

"Milords, thank you for coming on such short notice," Ned spoke as Harry pushed him to the head of the table before he took the leading seat to his left, across from Ser Garlan Tyrell. "Right now, we are close to finishing the war and I believe we should head south, capture Kings Landing and Cersei Lannister as soon as possible."

"Lord Stark is right." Yohn Royce concurred. "The war has gone on long enough and there are still enemies in the North to deal with. Stalling down here any longer would not be the wise move to make."

Smalljon scoffed, his large frame leaning forwards onto the table. "Ye speak as if ye've been fighting in this war from the beginning. Don't forget that his highness asked for yer aid long ago and ye refused. So don't think that ye can come along now and start calling the shots, we should wait for the King to awaken before making any decision." His words were met with muttered words of agreement, a vast majority of the room sharing his sentiments.

"You would allow the North to remain divided?" Harry asked, shocked by the very notion.

"There's no need to move," Dacey spoke up. "Lord Stark and Mallister have ensured that the North is in a stalemate. The Ironborn, the Boltons, Stannis, none of them can make a move without leaving themselves exposed to others. We're in no rush." Harsh, but true, that much Eddard could see, and it was not like they weren't just as eager to return home as he was. His family was not the only one that had been affected by this war, but they kept themselves calm and trusted in his orders of Robb.

"Besides, even if we needed to, we still have our own problems to deal with," Garlan said. "We still have the Dornish and their force of twenty thousand stationed at Princes Pass. If we make a move north without first securing the south, they could cause havoc to our endeavours. Not only that, but we have the Golden Company to worry about, they turned on the Lannisters at the end, but then turned on us as well."

Ned nodded his head. "Do we have any reports on where they're stationed?" As young as the faces around him were, very few being familiar faces to him, those closer to his son in age, they were not foolish or stupid. They each seemed to possess a good head on their shoulders, a calm understanding of what needed to be done and what was expected of them. It eased his heart to know that his son had been surrounded by such people, even if he was still unsure of their agendas.

"Some of my scouts reported them moving south towards Kings Landing a few days ago." Brynden Blackfish murmured. "And we also picked up reports of the Dornish doing the same."

"So it's more than likely that the Dornish and the Golden Company are allied?" One lord spoke up earning mutterings of agreement. "Then it seems matters in the south aren't finished after all as you Valemen seem to believe."

The little jab did not go unanswered, and Ned watched as the table erupted into arguments. Voices were raised and insults were shared on all sides. 'If the Golden Company and Dornish are allied, they may not even need to fight us at all. At this rate, we will fall apart from the inside.' And as he looked around, he noticed just how young the people in this room were, there were very few faces still around from the time of the Roberts Rebellion or the Greyjoy Rebellion.

"Milords, please, let us not argue amongst ourselves." Garlan urged, but his words went unheeded.

"Alright, ye fuckers, be quiet!" Smalljon shouted, slamming his fist down on the table. "Lord Stark, ye called this meeting, what do ye suggest?"

Ned didn't answer right away, looking to Yohn Royce who shook his head. "We shall send ravens to Kings Landing and the Dornish to try and gain an understanding of where their loyalties lie. In the meantime, we should prepare our forces, we'll march south in three days."

"Forgive me, Lord Stark, but while I agree that we should send ravens to Kings Landing, I believe we should wait till the King awakens before marching south." Rodrick Forrester, the new Lord of House Forrester, murmured, much to the discontent of the Vale lords. "We have come this far under his command and as much as I respect you, I would prefer to finish this war under the command of someone who has led us from the beginning, not someone who has only just arrived."

His words earned many mutterings of concurrence and Ned felt a frown come upon his face.

"Eddard Stark is the Lord of House Stark, the Lord Paramount of the North, have you forgotten where your loyalties lie?!" Gilwood Hunter exclaims.

"Lord Paramount of the North he maybe, but Robb Stark is the man we proclaimed as King in the North." Daryn Hornwood shot back.

Lord Piper's words were spoken in agreement. "Nor did we of the Riverlands proclaim Ned King, I too concur with Rodrick Forrester. Send the Ravens south, but we shall await for Robb to awaken."

"The Lords of the Reach agree also." Garlan concurred and just like that, the plan was both agreed upon and disagreed upon. And for the first time, Ned began to realise the type of situation he was a part of now. The Lords would not move without first being told to by Robb, his word and his reputation did not hold the same weight they once had, overshadowed by his son. And because of that, they were now stuck, unable to make a move.

"Yet it was that very same King who would have you charge to your deaths nought but a few days ago, was it not?" Yohn Royce calmly pointed out, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face at the disrespect being shown toward Edward. Certainly, the explosive morale of the Stark army had been impressive, but they would have never won that battle if it wasn't for the Vales' intervention.

"Ye would insult our King?!" Smalljon roared and more than a few lords flinched away in terror when the Lord of the Last Hearth shot to his feet. Even Yohn Royce couldn't help but clench his fist around an imaginary blade in the face of his anger.

"I meant no insult." Yohn continued on, despite the heavy lump in his chest at the murderous look sent his way by Smalljon. If he didn't say something now to rectify the situation he imagined it would get much bloodier. Possibly even become violent as more than a few lords loyal to Robb also began to rise to their feet. "I simply wanted to point out that your King, while admirable and certainly worthy of praise a hundred times over for his accomplishments in this war, only succeeded in the Battle of the Bloody Antlers due to our intervention."

There was a tense pause before the silence was broken by a burst of booming laughter from Smalljon. This was further followed by much laughter from many of the other North and Riverlands lords, each of them young.

This act caused a few angered mutterings to fill the chambers along with the laughter as the Vale lords took this as an insult against Lord Royce and by extension, themselves. "Forgive me, Lord Royce, we meant you no insult," Garlan uttered after a moment of levity. "But you speak as if our plan was simply to perform one last suicidal charge."

"Was it not?" Harry the Heir questioned.

"Far from it," Garlan replied. "I may not have known your son as long as you, Lord Stark, but I do believe that I have a better understanding of the man he has become than you. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that he is in love with my sister, but he certainly desires to have more children to repair his broken family." Those words earned a few chuckles and lewd smiles as men thought of Queen Margaery. "Not only that, but I know he wants nothing more than to see his child so I can assure you that a suicidal charge while not completely off the table, was not our aim during that battle."

"Then what was it?" Edward asked.

"Quite simple, take Kings Landing and with it, the Lannister Queen and her children that lay within and even though the Lannisters stood in our path, did we not break through their ranks before you made your move? Did that not leave the path to Kings Landing open?" Those words created silence.

Moving down the corridor at a slow, steady pace, Garlan spared a glance over at his shoulders as the gathered Lords made their way out of the Great Hall. Their numbers were too great to all be held in the war room of the Antlers, a sign of just how influential and powerful the new Stark dynasty had become.

But it wasn't secure.

'The Vale, they want Eddard Stark to be King, not Robb.' Garlan had nothing against Lord Stark, in fact, he held nothing but respect for the man, but he knew that for the future of his family, Ned could not be King.

The Reach Lords were all firmly behind Robb, as were many of the younger northern and Riverland lords. However, Garlan wasn't so sure about where the loyalties of the Westerland, Crownland and the older northern and Riverland Lords lay. Right now, the balance was firmly behind Robb, Ned only having the support of the Vale lords. But depending on where those other Lords decided to place their loyalty, it could shift the tide in either way.

Even more so if Lord Blackwood and Ser Brynden Blackfish placed their support in Ned. They commanded massive respect between the Lords of the Riverland and could very well get just a few Lords to support Ned.

'While the war continues, another front opens.' Garlan thought to himself, watching as Smalljon and Marq Piper moved towards him. And so, he moved to one side, waiting for the two to come to a stop beside him. "It looks we were right; the Vale intends to make Ned the King." While Robb had been elected, at the time Ned had been locked up and by many, presumed to be dead, only a few had believed he had escaped. At the time, Robb was elected King as a figurehead because he was a symbol for their cause to rally behind. Certainly, revenge was an excellent motivator, but it was not a motivation that could sustain a war of this scale. So they needed another motivator, something that all lords could rally behind, independence.

'Though looking upon it now, it is less independence and more an overthrowing of the current monarchy. However, I imagine very few care about that at this point in time, many will be too focused upon the potential power they could gain under the Stark regime.' That was why Robb had been elected King, to be a symbol that would give their cause more weight, and for the greed of the lords under his rule who wished to gain more power. If Ned had been around, he would have been elected King in place of Robb.

Kingships born of an election were also unstable, a King could be stripped of their power by the very Lords who chose to no longer support him much easier than a pre-established monarchy. These were things all knew and so right now, it came down to who had more support amongst the nobles, Robb or Ned.

"Aye, the bastards have been trying to call the shots ever since they arrived." Smalljon spat out angrily.

"I'll speak with Lord Blackwood, see who he intends to support." Lord Piper murmured quietly; eyes flickered around to make sure no one was in earshot. "Smalljon, you should do the same with Lord Karstark. If we can secure the support of the majority of the Riverland and northern Lords, we can ensure Robb remains King."

Smalljon nodded his head. "Good, the Reach Lords are firmly in support of Robb, I'll have Dickon look into the Westerland representatives while I speak with Crownland Lords," Garlan informed and then paused, noticing Ned Stark being wheeled out by Harry the Heir and Lord Yohn Royce.

For a moment, the three young men watched as the other three men turned around the corner, making sure not to speak on the matter until they were sure they were out of range. "In the meantime, I think we should be looking more closely at Robb's personal guard. Especially, Robar Royce, we don't know where his loyalties lie either and he could feed information back to his father."

"And if he is?" Lord Piper asked.

"We kill him, simple as that," Smalljon muttered quietly. "War's a dangerous place can never know who's yer ally or who's yer enemy. Sure there's plenty of spies amongst us already, what's to say one of them isn't an assassin as well?"

And slowly, the three men nodded their heads in agreement.

So, another chapter is done and I hope you all enjoyed it. Anyway, if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.