[Chapter Size: 2500 Words.]
Third Person POV.
Riverlands.
...
...
A raven from King's Landing arrived at the Twins a few days after the North camped in the devastated area, when the maester entered the main feast hall where they were once again having the first meal of the day, with a letter in hand, presenting it to Lord Frey, who immediately asked to read it in an urgent tone, given how restless they had been in the last few days.
What he expected to be a message of support, saying that the army of lions was coming to aid them, ended up being a disappointment. As Lord Frey roared upon finishing hearing the letter.
"He only wants to know exactly what information we have and how the North's army is doing?! Is that what the old lion is worried about, after everything?!", complained old Frey, slamming the table as he tried to break his mug.
Everyone around the main table shrank back and did not fail to show worried expressions upon hearing such things. In the end, they were alone, and Lannister support was not coming at all, and the old lion only wanted to use them before they were slaughtered.
Old Frey did not fail to look at the row of sons who had arrived in the last days, ever since he had sent even more men to approach the Twins after they left the siege of the Tully seat, where they had had no success in taking the castle, with the Blackfish keeping the gates shut and the place protected.
"My father, we cannot deal with the North like this! If they are coming, we have no support. The Twins may not protect us!", one of his sons said, standing up, visibly worried.
Old Frey began to tremble a little — a characteristic movement when he was very nervous. Not even the lions would be there to help them. Everything they had done in the end — massacring Northern soldiers and men — had been in vain, and now their allies, the same ones who claimed they would protect them, had betrayed them.
They were no longer important. That frustrated them.
"Father, we must gather all the Northern men and put them in the castle! We will need as many men available as possible to fight!", said Edwyn Frey.
"We don't have enough! We will be slaughtered like animals!", Hosteen Frey shouted, with clear fear in his voice.
"We cannot hide in the Twins and let them lay siege! They may reach us and give up, going to King's Landing without even entering the Riverlands!", stated Lothar Frey.
"We can do just like our dear brother did!", commented Ryman Frey.
"Do not speak of that traitor!", roared Black Walder Rivers.
Indeed, one of the Freys had simply fled three days ago, taking his wife and a sack of gold, declaring that the Lannisters would be destroyed.
"It no longer matters if that brother of ours betrayed the family. We still have a problem to solve on our own," said Alesander Frey, trying to appear calmer.
"This is your fault! You affronted the gods by attacking guests! Now we are all going to die because of it!", shouted the grandson Sandor Frey, taken by anger.
"Silence, boy! I will not hear that from you!", the old man growled.
"But it's true! We already knew there was a rumor about a dragon for some time, when the castles of Tywin's dogs vanished in a single night! And even so we obeyed the Lannisters! Now we are paying for trusting them!", another grandson, Tytos Frey, said.
"Be quiet, Tytos!", his father — Perwyn Frey — shouted. "I did not give you orders to speak! Do not speak the family's name like that! Do not oppose the decisions of my father and your grandfather!"
The boy shrank, but he still looked full of anger.
"The problem is that we trusted the Lannisters! Certainly Robb Stark not keeping his marriage vows and doing what he did to us may have been bad, an insult… but the actions we took with the lions and the Boltons have now condemned us!", Ryman Frey roared, spitting on the ground as he spoke. "The Lannisters used us! At the very least, they made us scapegoats!"
"We can give King Daemon Targaryen those who took part in the Red Wedding! We can still save part of House Frey! Not everyone participated!", Aenys Frey roared.
Immediately, most were overshadowed — all of them, in some way, had been involved in the Red Wedding.
"And what do you propose? Are you going to hand over my father and most of your brothers?", Black Walder Rivers replied, roaring at the younger brother, who clearly wanted to save his own skin. The argument continued while old Frey still trembled, many thoughts spinning in his mind at that moment. He saw his sons and grandsons arguing, each one trying to put the blame on another or trying to find a solution.
The old Lord could not even keep order. The hall was chaos.
His family's motto was "All as One", but it did not seem to be working that day. House Frey seemed to have completely forgotten it, and a fight between its members began in that hall.
The days went by, and not even the Lannisters answered any of the messages Frey had sent asking for help. They sent only one vague letter, saying they would send reinforcements "within two or three days".
But at that point, the Freys already believed it was a huge lie — that in the end, the lions had abandoned House Frey for good, leaving them on their own.
If they truly were going to send a force, they would have been more specific. It sounded like nothing but an excuse to extract information about the enemy, since the Freys had not passed all the information Tywin had demanded.
Even those who were Lannister spies within House Frey itself roared with anger — now, they were alone and abandoned.
Then, finally, the day came when the forest and the King's Road began to grow more agitated.
The scouts — now positioned closer to the Twins — could not pass on any information; anyone who came near the enemy encampment was immediately struck down, no one had returned for over a week.
The Freys themselves were blind to the enemy. All their scouts had been killed in the North, and none had returned with useful information. Even that bastard who had previously passed information had been killed in the first days after the army passed the Reed seat, or captured, as some Freys hoped.
Frey remained in the other tower, while placing some of his most capable men to try to negotiate with the Northern lords and with the Targaryen king.
And then the plain began to fill with rows upon rows of men approaching the Twins, leaving the soldiers of the first tower watching through the windows with worried looks as more and more troops began settling in the vast field in front of the castle.
They saw some orders being exchanged by the commanders, and soon the men began cutting trees to widen the space even more. No one seemed to pay attention to the Twins as the entire army worked.
The sound of axes echoed throughout the area, and more and more trees were felled — some thrown into the river, others stacked.
In a few hours, with thousands of men working, they had expanded the area and were already beginning to raise rows of tents, creating a massive camp.
Some men, mainly those wearing the sigils of Northern houses, began pointing at the towers and shouting curses at the Frey soldiers, saying they would die.
Obviously, the Frey soldiers were not at all pleased with this, and the mood was grim for those inside the Twins.
When Frey saw the crowd, he realized that the army Robb Stark had led at the beginning of the war seemed like a small group compared to the absurd number of men now gathered before the Twins.
Daemon had summoned a meeting. The Northern men roared for vengeance, the free folk were eager for action, and Stannis's men remained calmer and analytical — just like Lord Stark himself.
Unlike most Northerners, inclined toward immediate vengeance, the free folk seemed hesitant about possible action, while Stannis maintained a more strategic posture, along with his men around him.
"I summoned you tonight precisely to reach a verdict about the Freys. We have already made the decision that we are going to exterminate them, but we still need to decide how to deal with their castle," Daemon said.
"Taking it with your dragon seems like a waste…", Stannis commented. "It would be a fast action, but it would also destroy the Twins."
"You are absolutely right. That is why I have a plan. Tomorrow I will take a guard I personally trained north of the Wall for a year, and we will have an audience with Lord Frey. I am sure he will be anxious to negotiate, with the size of the army at his gate," Daemon replied.
"You plan to enter the Twins after everything that cursed family did? Your Majesty, this is not right!", Robb protested immediately, and many lords also showed displeasure and concern in their eyes.
"That is dangerous. It is better to simply take the castle. In a few days, we could manage it. Are you certain you can handle this now?", Lord Stark questioned.
"Old Frey also expects that if we attack, we will take days to take the castle. He does not expect my visit with 20 men… and he will not expect that I turn the Twins into a battlefield. After all, I am at a disadvantage," Daemon said with an amused tone.
"I will send only twenty men with me, to hear Walder Frey's answer."
"They will try to capture you," Stannis opined.
"They will try," Daemon replied, with a smile. "But do not forget… who I am."
'I am the dragonborn… in a world where there are no mages or anyone who is a real challenge…' Daemon thought, almost laughing.
"I'm going with you! If you want to take part in this madness, I'm going with you!", Val said beside him. Daemon merely looked at her, nodded, and turned back to Stannis.
"We still need the Twins, and you seem to agree with that as well. Destroying them would be foolish, and we need to move most of the army across the river. I also want to divide the army here. I will send a part, with twenty thousand men, to the west. I want Stannis to take all his men and advance to a position where he can fight the Lannisters directly north of the crownlands. Another group will split off and head to Harrenhal, advancing through the east to the crownlands."
"I want you to put all the lords who support the lions on their knees. Lord Stark will guide the North along with Mance guiding the free folk to Harrenhal. Then we reach King's Landing with an army on two fronts. At the same time, part of the free folk will cleanse the Riverlands of the Lannister domains. We will seize each of the western nobles' strongholds, so that they never forget this war for the next centuries. We will sack their strongholds. The lions will be in despair. My goal is to take Casterly Rock and burn it," Daemon declared.
"Who will command the free folk army in the west, coming from the Riverlands?", Mance asked.
"Among the free folk groups closest to me, Karsi will lead part of the tribes. I will also count on Sixskins and others, and I want the giants led by Mag, o Poderoso. There were more than 30 giants in the army Daemon brought from Mance's camp. What he wanted was to bring down the Golden Tooth Gate with the mammoths.
"I will remain on all three fronts, flying over Winter. But we will discuss that after my talk with the Freys," Daemon concluded.
Everyone agreed. They had already discussed these plans at Moat Cailin, and nothing seemed to change.
Daemon returned with Val to the tent and spent the night peacefully with Ygritte, who also demanded to go along. Daemon agreed, though he did not know how he would keep them inside.
The next day, a group of men representing the Targaryen king appeared before that tower of the Twins. A brief negotiation began with one of old Frey's sons — Black Walder — who was handling the defense. He quickly passed the information to his father, for Daemon had requested a conversation to negotiate.
Messages followed between the towers, and, through a messenger, Lord Frey replied that he could open the gate for Daemon and twenty more men.
Daemon saw all his men arming themselves with his trusted escort, leaving Lafy and the others behind.
His uncle stared at him with strange concern, while Daemon merely scoffed, not caring about his opinion or anyone else's regarding his safety.
Thus, he headed toward the tower as the gate began to lower. Servants waited with bread and salt.
"Your Majesty," said Frey's son, the cruel bastard Black Walder.
Daemon merely raised an eyebrow, while the men behind him remained cautious, alert to any enemy movement and prepared to act — they had been specially trained beyond the Wall.
"You are one of Frey's sons, but I have no idea who exactly you are, perhaps the cruel bastard?", Daemon said openly.
The man looked offended, but he did not dare show it for long — he felt more fear of Daemon than any anger for being acknowledged that way.
"Black Walder, Your Majesty. I am here to take you to my father. Please, accept bread and salt," he said, pointing to the servant.
Daemon smiled upon hearing that. "House Frey has no qualification to offer such a thing. After all… the rites of hospitality mean nothing to you, do they?", he mocked openly.
Black Walder was left speechless. Daemon gave him no time to recover. He began walking forward.
"Now, please, take me to the old carcass. Let us hear what that bastard of your father has to say before I invade the Twins and destroy your entire family," Daemon said, simply moving ahead.
The Frey bastard remained frozen for an instant, processing what he had just heard, while Daemon was already crossing the gates under the tense stares of the guards — and even the army camped in the distance, who watched the Dragon enter that place as if openly insulting the Frey family was nothing unusual.
For the Freys, there was no turning back now. Daemon was inside, and his men followed only to maintain appearances. All of them wore thick furs as if it were winter, even in the heat — something that could be seen merely as the wild way of dressing north of the Wall… but, in truth, it was a form of protection.
Protection against what was to come.
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